Reality
by routineriotx
Summary: Evaline Kaeser is a graphic designer, living a relatively normal and uneventful life in Seattle... or, at least, she thought she was. But when she wakes up from a coma in an alternate reality, she is told that everything she thought was her life, is a lie. As she grapples with amnesia, she can't help but question: which of the two realities is really her own? Steve Rogers x OC
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This first chapter is meant as more of a prologue than anything, so we'll get into all of the fun stuff a little later. This will be a Steve Rogers x OC fanfiction that takes place (mostly) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, but with a few mixes in there already - just to give you a little context for now :)

* * *

It was a Monday.

Evaline Kaeser woke up to sunlight peeping in through her blinds. The newspaper was at her doorstep already, a layer of perspiration on the plastic due to the humidity in the air. The coffeemaker was still warm from her roommate's cup that had presumably been made earlier that morning, a testament to the issues of buying technology secondhand. The milk was still fresh, the cereal still crisp, the dishes all clean as she sat down to her newspaper and laptop.

Her computer pinged incessantly as e-mails rolled in from various clients, and she began organizing them with her own private system. As a graphic designer, she had a special relationship with her computer and its files that only she could appreciate; each was taken care of, ranked by importance, and fine-tuned so each request held only the most vital of information.

She opened her first file of the day that had been sent to her from an e-mail she didn't recognize as one currently existing in her little black book of clients. Still, the unfamiliar address didn't stop her from downloading and opening the pictures that had been attached to the message. Sipping her coffee and savoring the kick of the caramel sweetener that she made herself with dulce de leche syrup, sea salt, and cream, she allowed for herself to look down at her phone while she waited for the files to open.

A groan emitted from the doorway behind her as a boy stumbled out, his glasses on but his eyes still closed behind them as he blindly shuffled toward the counter opposite of him, where the coffee maker still sat steaming. Right beside the pot was a freshly made cup of coffee, as Evaline made for him almost every morning; she didn't trust him to be around hot liquids before he actually had his own coffee and woken up a little bit.

She tried her best to fight back her too-big grin as she commented, "Good morning, sunshine."

Luke grumbled something that sounded more like an insult than a proper response to Evaline's well wishes, and she let loose her grin. His words became more comprehensible as he said, "Why are you so bright and joyful today?"

"I just feel good," Evaline said, shrugging her shoulders and giving him a small, relaxed smile. "It's not my fault that you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Her roommate had just opened his mouth to no doubt fight back, when Evaline's computer began to glitch, the windows on the screen bouncing around erratically until her e-mail popped up again, showing a whole slew of e-mails from the same mysterious address she had unwittingly downloaded images from earlier. Just like that, her bright mood was depleted; obviously, there was something sketchy about the e-mail address.

"Karma," Luke commented snidely, his words coming out a bit muffled considering his mouth was still on the edge of the mug and his voice was directed straight into the coffee. He finally bothered to lift his head as he said, "The gods have decided to punish you for your eternal cheeriness, and give you a dose of reality at long last."

Evaline shrugged off his mood, her copper hair sliding behind her shoulders as she reached to the top of her laptop. "Whatever, I'll just restart it and hope it'll stop… whatever this is."

Luke rolled his eyes as he saw her finger directly over the power button, but he barely moved as he commented, "I swear to God, Eva, if you hit that power button and take the childish way out…"

Despite his warning, she pressed the power button for thirty seconds, then started it back up again, all to the sound of Luke groaning and complaining about how little he was appreciated in the household that held himself, Evaline, and Marley, their third roommate. Meanwhile, Evaline was having a crisis of her own; what she thought was the beginnings of an error message had begun to scrawl across the black screen in white print as she growled, "Shit."

She was about to just try the manual restart again, despite the fact that she was sure Luke would throw his mug at her, coffee and all, when she actually deigned to read the message on her screen.

 _You have been in a coma for six months now. Please wake up._

She leaned back in her chair, leaning on profanity as well to help her accurately portray her feelings with a simple "What the fuck?"

"What now?" Luke asked in what Evaline and Marley had always called his 'doomsday voice'. Luke was constantly finding the downside of things, and the potential complications that could arise; he had been that way since she had met him and Marley in their freshman year of high school, in a Art Studio class. Her annoyance with this characteristic of his was that he was usually right in guessing what consequences would occur.

She didn't verbally answer his question, instead gesturing vaguely to the screen. Footsteps padded in behind her until she felt Luke's presence cowering behind her now, the scent of his Happy Hour hangover wafting over her as she nearly gagged, gasping, "Luke."

"Oh, hush," he commented grumpily, ignoring her as he squinted at the screen facing both of them. As an additional comment, he offered, "I told you that you shouldn't shut down your computer manually. Now, you've got a virus."

Evaline turned from her laptop as Luke started making his retreat back through the kitchen. "I'm not sure that the two of those are connected."

"Well, who are you to say?" Luke asked primly, taking a sip of his coffee as he kept his honey-colored eyes locked on Evaline in judgment. She remained silent for the rest of his drink, before he lowered the mug from his lips and said, "On that note, I take my leave."

Rolling her eyes, Evaline turned back to her computer, commenting as Luke re-entered his cave, "Thank God."

No longer under the eye of her insistent and stubborn roommate, she once again tried to turn the computer off, more out of fear and discomfort this time. Although she had shot down Luke's supposition of a virus only moments before, she had heard one too many stories about identity theft via computer viruses, and seen one too many horror movies where a killer stalked their victims through the cyber network. When the desktop failed to go black, leaving the message blinking at her, she snapped the screen shut and pushed it away like it was infected, instead pulling her newspaper to her instead.

As she pulled it out of the plastic wrapping, it landed flat on its front, revealing the crossword puzzle on the back. Evaline shrugged; she enjoyed doing the puzzles every once in a while, and she needed something truly mind numbing to get her thoughts off of the possible hacker on her laptop.

Pulling the puzzle closer and grabbing a pen out of the tin can they kept in the middle of the dining room table for this purpose, Evaline eyed the list of clues, scratching in the answers as she found them.

 _1 ACROSS: What is usually asked before "thank you" (5 letters)_

Please.

 _3 ACROSS: An event that is held before a funeral; also called "a visitation" (4 letters)_

Wake.

 _4 ACROSS: The opposite of down (2 letters)_

"What kind of child's puzzle is this?" Evaline grumbled, writing the final word in the provided boxes.

Up.

Her heart lodged itself in her throat as she realized what the words thus far spelled out. As she searched the rest of the puzzle, she realized the remaining words were all normal suggestions, such as the last names of record-breaking baseball players and even more eloquent synonyms for SAT vocabulary words.

But the three words she had already written in stuck in her mind, the same as the message on her computer.

 _Please wake up._

Quickly, she tore the crossword puzzle's page from the paper and crumpled it up, tossing it into the kitchen aimlessly. She just wanted the words, the spookiness, away from her as she tried to breathe, and tried to settle the raging headache that was coming on.

She reached for her coffee, drinking it in gulps from the mug as the smells of the Colombian beans brought back memories of a summer-long mission trip and studying the Spanish language and Latino boys. It was enough to relax her and bring her back to reality, before she pulled her bowl of cereal toward her.

Taking a mouthful almost blindly, she was surprised to feel a difference in the shape of the Cheerios she had been expecting. While some were rounded, most of them had sharper bits as she looked down into her cereal to make sure she was eating the right thing.

A mockery of alphabet soup, albeit with Cheerios and milk instead of noodles and broth, stared back at her.

Somehow knowing what they were going to say, her curiosity won out as she ladled out a spoonful and spread it on the table, reorganizing the letters to spell exactly what she had expected.

 _Please wake up._

Slamming her chair back from the table, she winced as it squealed against the tile floor. No matter how hard she stared at the cereal on the table and how hard she blinked her eyes, the shapes of the Cheerios didn't change and the message stayed the same.

The door to Luke's room slammed open, startling her as she quickly swiped the Cheerios so that he couldn't see the message they spelled. Although Luke looked almost as disheveled as he had during his previous appearance earlier in the morning, he at least had bothered to put contacts in and make an attempt to tame his wavy chestnut hair. His eyes were wide as he looked at Evaline practically on top of the counter in an attempt to get away from a unknown threat, and he asked slowly, "Eva… ?"

"I'm fine," she said quickly, shaking her head as she slowly pulled away from the safety of the counter. "I'm fine, I promise. Just a little… skittish this morning."

"Skittish seems to be an understatement." Luke's dark eyebrows knitted together in concern, wrinkling the skin between them. "Are you sure everything is… ?"

"Everything is okay," Evaline interrupted before he could ask, nodding once before she put a hand to her head, which was throbbing continuously with pain at this point, and prepared a lie that came to her a bit too easily. "I didn't get much sleep last night because of a nightmare that I think has left some weird feeling in my stomach. I think I might go back to sleep for another hour and just stay up later tonight."

All humor and grumpiness had left Luke's face by this point, replaced with genuine concern for Evaline. "Okay. Well, I'm off today so I'll just be one room over if you need to… talk about anything."

Evaline had already started backing up toward the hallway, and her bedroom. "Yeah, thank you."

The moment that Luke turned back to his room, Evaline ran to her own, shuffling around in the drawer of her nightstand until she found the nearly forgotten about and nearly emptied bottle of medicine in the back corner. Scrambling to open it, she took out the last two pills available and popped them dry, before settling onto her bed and crawling back under the covers, her heart still racing.

Begging her body to do the opposite of what the messages told her, Evaline finally felt herself beginning to fade. The last sight she saw before the medication lulled her to sleep was the prescription bottle on her nightstand, the white label that was normally emblazoned with names, numbers, and codes empty except a simple line of text.

 _Please wake up._


	2. Chapter 2

When Evaline awoke, she was staring at a plaster-tiled ceiling splattered with fluorescent lights. She felt something physically shift in her head as she winced, squeezing her eyes shut as an alarm began to softly beep beside her. As she rolled her head to the side and forced open her eyes, which felt like they had been glued shut, she spotted a myriad of medical supplies on one side of her bed.

As she attempted to sit up, she felt something pull tightly at her neck as she tried to yelp in pain. However, the discomfort only worsened; with a downward cast of her eyes, she saw something was protruding out of her mouth. Tracing the tubing to the side of her bed, she saw what she somehow knew to be a ventilator, and her eyes went wide with panic. The possibilities ran rampant through her mind. Had she overdosed on her sleeping medications? Had she had some sort of psychological break and blacked out because of it?

Two women wearing scrubs rushed into the room as Evaline's eyes filled with tears, blurring her vision against her own will. One of the hands reached out to her to calm her, muttering some incessant noise about her needing to calm down, while another reached for the tubing coming out of her mouth. The only real words that managed to reach Evaline's mind through her anxiety was a vaguely familiar voice saying, "Eva, this is going to be uncomfortable, but you'll be able to breathe and talk once we get the tube out. We need you to relax though, for it to be easier to remove."

Evaline wanted so badly to curse out whoever it was that kept instructing her to remain calm like it was a simple thing, but she did try to calm herself down a little bit as she felt the tube sliding out of her throat, hitting her gag reflex and ripping up whatever small layer of protection she had. As soon as it had been removed, Evaline found herself folding over at the waist, retching and coughing for a solid minute until the urge to vomit had finally disappeared and the tears in her eyes spilled, clearing her vision.

However, that still didn't mean she believed what she saw when she looked up again.

Rachel McAdams was standing above her, holding the dripping tube that had presumably been stuffed down Evaline's throat only moments before.

Evaline tried to state her surprise and disbelief at who stood in front of her, but no sound came out of her throat. Instead, a wave of irritation rode up the inner lining, burning every inch of it as she nearly gagged on the pain. Fake Rachel quickly handed her a cup of water that she drank greedily, not caring for a second when it dribbled out of the corners of her mouth and slid down her chin, saturating the top of the hospital gown she was wearing.

Just as Evaline was finishing off the cup and Fake Rachel opened her mouth to say something to her, the door opened, and a calm, almost annoyed voice asked, "What's going on in here?"

Evaline turned to shoot a look at their newest guest, freezing as she saw who had joined them.

Just over Rachel McAdams' doppleganger's shoulder stood Benedict Cumberbatch's.

The two of them simply stared at each other, and somehow, Fake Benedict looked more surprised to see Evaline than she did to see the celebrity doppleganger. His voice was full of wonder and surprise as he said, "Eva. You're awake."

"Yes," Evaline responded slowly, feeling her vocal cords rubbing together as she winced. "I mean… why was I asleep? I don't… I don't remember anything."

Both of Fake Benedict's eyebrows shot up so they rested somewhere in the middle of his forehead. "Nothing? You remember nothing?"

"I mean, I remember some basic stuff, but…" Evaline tried to focus, tried to think of any memory she had after the weird fever dream that had been the mysterious messages hidden in her morning routine, but figured she should probably leave that out of the narrative. She still wasn't entirely sure why she was in the hospital, and if it was because of a psychotic break or something of the sort, she was sure that telling the doctors about secret messages in her cereal and her crossword puzzle wouldn't help her get the answers she wanted, or to get her home.

Fake Rachel stepped closer to her, asking gently, "Do you know who we are?"

As Evaline looked up into her face, she could see the differences between the Rachel McAdams she had seen on the big screen and the look-alike that now stood over her. She had more auburn hair, no mole on her cheek, and gray eyes that radiated intelligence and kindness alike. Evaline had to shake her head once to refocus before saying, "No, I don't… I don't think I know who you are."

When Fake Benedict stepped forward to the edge of the bed, Evaline quickly pulled the hospital blanket tighter to her chest, unsure of what his intentions were exactly. All she could focus on was that she was sitting in front of a man who looked nearly identical to one that had featured in some of her more R-rated dreams, and that she wasn't wearing a bra, a fact made clear by the thin material of the gown.

She also supposed that it felt like a security blanket, another layer to put between herself and the strangers who now stood around her, peering at her like a zoo animal. Fake Benedict's dark eyebrows were furrowed so tightly that Evaline counted five wrinkles between them; Fake Rachel, meanwhile, had an open and wondrous gaze as she looked at Evaline.

Fake Benedict reached forward, pressing his gloved fingertips to Evaline's cheek as he checked her eyes with a penlight he had conjured seemingly out of thin air. As he watched her pupils dilate and constrict, he asked in a quiet voice, "Do you truly not remember us?"

Evaline looked between both of them and blinked rapidly to rid of the dark circles the doctor's flashlight had produced in her field of vision. Her inability to see and the repetition of questions finally got to her as she snapped, "Remember you from what? From _The Notebook_ and _Sherlock_?"

The two dopplegangers shared a concerned look, before Fake Benedict turned to one of the techs in the room, commanding, "Pull up her EEGs and EKGs for the last four hours, highlighting any abnormalities, focusing on shortly before her exit. She just had labs done as well, correct?"

With the two doctor's gazes off of her, Evaline tried to place where and when she was, searching desperately for any clues that could provide her with the information that, for whatever reason, the medical team was withholding from her. Her eyes raced wildly, as they finally settled on the breast of the doctor's white coat. The theory that she was losing it seemed to hold true as she read off the label.

 _Dr. Stephen Strange, MD – Department of Neurosurgery_

Evaline could hear her heart monitor's rhythm speed up again, giving away her climbing anxiety as the two doctors continued to confer over her monitors, using jargon she couldn't even begin to pretend to understand. While they analyzed everything behind her, she searched the Rachel McAdam's look-alike for some sort of identification, as she wasn't wearing a white coat. Finally, Evaline was able to zero in on the badge that hung off the waistband of her scrub pants, squinting to read the type and confirming her crazy beliefs.

 _Dr. Christine Palmer, MD_

Underneath her breath, she muttered, "No fucking way."

While Christine's worried eyes shifted to Evaline, Strange's stayed on the screens that were positioned behind Evaline's head, especially as they continued to beep with increasing insistence. Without even bothering to acknowledge Evaline's statement, Strange commented to Christine, "Her EKG looks good, and her EEG looks normal, but there are some abnormal interruptions on the second and fourth leads…"

"But what are they?" Christine asked, both of them stepping closer to the monitor on Evaline's left side, their eyes off of her now. "It's not seizure or stroke activity, and her ICP's have been fine…"

Before she really knew what she was doing, Evaline was grabbing a scalpel out of a partially opened package on the table next to her bed, cutting the tubing that connected her to the machines at her bedside before springing up on the side of the bed opposite of Christine and Strange. So many alarms were going off that Evaline could barely hear what Christine was trying to say to her in an attempt to calm her down. She did hear Strange shout "Get Wanda and Banner!", but she barely registered the words.

As she eyed all of her adversaries in the room, her eyes zeroed in on weak points on their bodies: the carotid and jugular, three pressure points, a partially healed scar on Strange's neck…

She blinked, clamping her eyes shut for a second longer as she tried to shut out all of the extraneous information attempting to enter her brain. As she tried to listen to her own thoughts, Christine and Strange were trying to talk her down, but their voices were white noise to the background of her own thoughts, connecting the dots of names that floated through her mind of their own accord.

 _Strange. Palmer. Banner. Maximoff._

"No, it…" Evaline opened her eyes, but shook her head as she looked at Strange and Christine with confusion, and they returned the expression. Her voice was tremulous as she said, "How can you be here? How can you be real? You can't be real."

The door to the room opened again, and Strange's face contorted as he presumably prepared to yell at whoever else had just entered into the room. He seemed to relax, however, when a quiet voice came from the doorway, saying, "Eva."

She turned to the source, and her vision wavered again as she spotted Elizabeth Olsen and Mark Ruffalo's dopplegangers, and her mind made the connection that had seemed to be true so far. Wanda Maximoff had a sharper nose and sharper cheekbones than Elizabeth Olsen, making her face far more angular; Bruce Banner's hair was more black than gray and he stood taller than Mark Ruffalo did in Evaline's world.

Evaline assumed that Wanda was the one who had spoken, because Bruce looked too shell-shocked to have said anything at all. Her assumption proved correct as Wanda took a tiny half-step forward, reaching out her hand as she said, "Eva, put the scalpel down. We just want to help you."

"Bullshit," Eva growled, her anger finally spiking as she felt more and more like a cornered animal. Her profanity earned an entertained lift of the eyebrows from Strange. "You all have drugged me with Lord knows what, stuck needles and probes and what have you in me, and you're not telling me a damn thing."

"That's fair," Christine said, putting up her hands defensively. "What do you want to know?"

"Where the hell I am, for one," Evaline hissed, spit forming at the corners of her mouth as she felt like the rabid dog she probably also looked like. "Or why the hell I'm here. Or who the hell you all are, and why you keep calling me Eva like we're friends. Or…"

Wanda looked hurt as she insisted, "We _are_ your friends, Eva."

"Stop calling me that!" Evaline shouted, raising the scalpel anew as everyone in the room tensed again. "You don't know me, and I don't know you."

"Okay, okay," Christine said softly, stepping between Evaline and Wanda, still holding out her hands as if that would stop Evaline from attacking her when the time came and she snapped. "Let's start at the beginning, Evaline. You're at a private hospital in New York. There was an incident, and we brought you here to take care of you. You're safe now. Just put the scalpel down, and -"

"Stop telling me I'm safe!" Evaline shouted, shaking her head while a tremor overtook her arm that was clasping to the scalpel like it was a lifeline. Something broke apart in her mind as hallucinations overtook her mind: flashes of a sprawling estate with an airfield in front of it, standing on a platform nearly a hundred feet in the sky overlooking the entirety of New York City, running toward the end of a fractured bridge with no intention of stopping.

She forced her eyes open, lifting the scalpel toward them again as she cried, "Please, make them stop, I can't – "

Strange's eyes flicked to the screens behind her, his voice calm as he said, "Bruce, Wanda, please. She's about to have an event."

The two newcomers shot each other a look for only a moment before they moved together as a unit. Wanda raised a hand, and Evaline felt her fingers prying away from the scalpel, joint by joint. She hissed in pain as she stopped fighting the force, and the scalpel flew out of her grip and back to the package she had originally taken it out of.

In wonder, Evaline turned back to them, asking, "What the – "

She never got to finish asking her question, however, as the room exploded into chaos again. Bruce, who had only been a half-step behind Wanda the entire time, rushed forward with Christine and two of the orderlies, using their brunt force to push Evaline back to the bed. With impressive efficiency, the orderlies were able to strap down both of Evaline's legs and one of her arms; only the one Christine was reinserting an IV into was still free, but being held down tightly by Bruce.

"Put her back under, now!" Bruce barked, the veins on his face filling with green as he struggled with Wanda to keep Evaline down. "Strange!"

"Infusing!" Strange shouted, as Evaline felt something beginning to burn through her veins. She screamed, more out of pain than fear this time, as she felt the poison moving through her veins and clawing its way to her chest and her head. Her eyes slammed shut, fighting out against the medicine and the bright lights irritating her vision.

Hands and something else not entirely natural kept her pinned to the bed. Wanda's voice was strained as she asked, "Can't you give her something for the pain, or at least to help her calm down?"

"Don't you remember how horribly that went last time?" Strange snapped back. "The concoction that we created has to interact exactly right with proprioceptors and neurotransmitters for it…"

"She's going, anyway," Christine said, gesturing to another one of the mysterious screens over Evaline's head that she couldn't see in her current position. Bruce and Strange seemed to understand what was going on in the screen; Wanda looked as confused as Evaline herself felt.

Evaline's vision began to blur again, this time due to more than just tears. Christine's clear voice called out, saying, "It's okay, Eva. Let it wash over you. You're completely safe."

Despite her conciliatory words, Evaline's anxiety spiked as she begged them, her voice raw, "Please, just let me go!"

"We're sorry, Eva," Wanda said, her voice filled with sadness as Bruce stepped away from the bedside, rapidly exiting the room. Evaline cried out as her eyesight began to fracture, leaving her feeling like she was looking through a kaleidoscope. Reaching out to brush back her hair, Wanda kissed her forehead, saying, "We're so, so sorry, Eva. We're trying to save you."

Before she could ask what the witch was talking about, Evaline fell to blackness once more.


	3. Chapter 3

This time when Evaline awoke, she was in a hotel room she half-recognized.

She wondered if she had perhaps imagined the whole entire debacle with the four fictitious characters, had imagined the port in her chest connecting her to various tubes, had imagined the feeling of the fire in her veins and her blood. Maybe everything, from the moment she had woken up that morning to the bizarre cereal and crossword puzzle, had all just been some sort of fever dream.

Getting up from the bed, she peeked out the window to see she was in the middle of some metropolitan area. Looking down at the skyline, somehow she was able to catch sight of the infamous Bean, and the slew of tourists around it.

"Chicago?" Evaline asked under her breath, wondering out loud what she was doing in the Windy City, wondering internally how she was able to come up with an organized list of cross streets near the metallic landmark in a city that she had never visited before.

Moving away from the glass window overlooking the city, she turned instead to the glass mirror on the opposite wall, startling when she realized she was already dressed despite having just gotten up from bed. She caught a glance of herself in the mirror, and something felt wrong about that. For some reason, there was always this certain state of self-awareness in dreams that Evaline knew if she looked awful or good; but never, never before had she seen her reflection in a dream.

Her brass-colored hair shone evenly in the sunlight leaking in through the hotel room's window, but the strands fell several inches below her chest whereas in real life she was sporting a shoulder-length cut. Even beyond that, Evaline knew the outfit she wore wasn't one that was in her closet back home, but one that felt familiar and comfortable on her body all the same: a pair of dark wash denim jeans, a crimson long-sleeve t-shirt, a tan leather jacket, and black high-heeled boots with a heel of which she would have never realistically bought in fear of snapping her ankle with one step.

She felt as if a gentle puppeteer were guiding her body throughout the dream, as she turned away from the mirror and headed to the hotel room's door, stopping just a few inches short and reaching to a dresser to the right of it. Her hand reached out and grabbed three things: a wallet that slipped into her left jacket pocket; a phone that buried into the lining of her right; and a gun.

Her subconscious screamed incoherently, but her conscious spoke insanely clinically.

 _Black Beretta M9. 15 rounds, 9mm ammunition. Short recoil. Suggested range is 50 meters. I prefer to use it within 40 meters. Extra magazines are in the third drawer._

She checked the magazine in the gun before shoving it into her holster that she was wearing underneath her shirt. Her subconscious continued to scream in surprise and confusion at her need to wear a holster and carry a gun, and how normal her conscious was taking it.

Checking for her hotel key card in her wallet before she left the room, Evaline felt her phone buzz in her pocket as she stepped outside into the hallway. The message was simply a number, no name attached, followed by a few lines of text.

As Evaline opened the text, she muttered under her own breath, "Please don't be 'please wake up'."

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when she saw the text was more complicated than that.

 _Harrison's Café, State Street, 10:30 AM_

Spotting the time in the corner of her phone's screen, she saw she only had fifteen minutes to get to the café that she somehow knew was a twelve minute walk away. Making sure once more that she had securely placed both her wallet and her gun, Evaline exited the room and the hotel, letting her dream consciousness take over as she pushed through the hustle and bustle of downtown Chicago to her destination.

The final location ended up being a nearly hidden mom-and-pop shop in the midst of skyscrapers and streets choked with traffic. Despite the slightly banal 50s-diner-themed décor, the place was packed with all classes of Chicago citizens: business professionals, hippie artisans, college students, and tourists alike. Evaline waded through half the crowd before realizing she actually had no idea who she was searching for.

Just as she was about turn around and give up on the task, she recognized one of the figures halfway across the restaurant. With her unmanageable raven hair and checkerboard-patterned jacket, Evaline's roommate and best friend Marley was an easy sight to lock onto, especially as she waved to catch Evaline's eye. Grinning as relief from the normalcy washed over her, Evaline did the same, only to hesitate when she saw that Marley was sitting across the table from a redhead. Figuring that they were just sharing a table due to the crowded manner of the café, Evaline shook it aside as she walked up to Marley, keeping her back to the redhead.

Sighing, she put out her arms to Marley, who stood and hugged her. "God, am I happy to see you, Mar. You will not believe the dream I just had, or the day I'm having. I think I got a drug in my drink last night or something."

"Hi, Eva," Marley said warmly, although her words seemed a bit scripted and Evaline's genuine smile began to falter. "We're glad you've found us here."

"We?" Evaline asked, her grin slipping entirely as she finally deigned a look at Marley's table companion and her subconscious became audible again.

 _Holy shit. That's Scarlett Johansson._

If at all possible, the starlet was more beautiful than she was in the movies. Her hair was ruby red, as was her lipstick that mysteriously left no mark on the coffee cup she was drinking out of. She wore an outfit scarily similar to Evaline's, just differing in the color scheme: her long-sleeve t-shirt was navy, her leather jacket black, and the holster she was wearing at her waist that Evaline spotted through the gap of her jacket was made of brown leather. Eyeing the handle of what she could somehow identify as a Glock 26, Evaline felt the weight of her own gun pressing in against her hip, especially as Fake Scarlett gave her half a smirk and asked, "You know me?"

Evaline leaned forward over the table, so Marley disappeared from her peripheral vision and the redhead was her sole focus. "No, because I know you're supposed to be Natasha Romanov, and you're not real – so that's not possible. I don't even think this café, or this city, or this day is real. The only thing of this that is real, that I know, is Marley."

Continuing to sport half a smirk, Natasha replied, "Out of all of the things in this scene, Marley is the least real."

Evaline scoffed. "Of course she's real. She's right – "

She had turned to the side, to point to the girl who had been sitting next to her for the last several moments, but instead, she found that the chair was empty. Staring at it blankly for a few seconds, Evaline's conscious and subconscious finally lined up for once as she said, "What the hell?"

"We had to create her, and place her in this memory, for at least some connection between that life and your real one," Natasha said simply, as if it explained everything. Evaline could feel the confusion on her features and so she knew that Natasha could easily read it; however, the spy decided to simply ignore it, plowing through the rest of her speech. "How much, if anything, do you remember?"

"Nothing," Evaline snapped, fed up with so many people asking her what she remembered, as if the memories she had were all false. "I remember, and apparently know, nothing. I know nothing about why I have a gun by my hip I apparently know how to use, I know nothing about my knowledge of the cross-streets of Chicago, I know nothing about why you even exist in this world."

"I guess I could start at the beginning," Natasha said, her eyes trailing out the window as if trying to find, tangibly, where to start. Evaline followed her gaze, but saw nothing out of the ordinary; the sky was blue and cloudless, the street outside the café was still thick with congestion, and everyone was walking by in their own worlds, oblivious to any other issue on the street.

Natasha's eyes moved back to Evaline's as she said, "We were sent here to search for a man that has been causing… disruptions in some of the bigger metropolitan areas of the country. We were just sent to observe and report back, to confirm the sighting if that was it, as he's kind of been jumping around and has been difficult to track. The problem was, the op went wrong."

Wrapping her hands around the coffee in front of her, Evaline tried to pull in the warmth to soothe her nerves that were starting to rankle as a million questions swirled through her brain. Only one made it out of her mouth, however, as she asked, "Went wrong? Went wrong, how?"

"You were… hurt," Natasha said, seeming to choke on the word. She shook her head, the red curls bouncing as she did so, clearing her throat. "Sorry. There's only so much I can tell you, to protect the timeline."

"To…" Evaline trailed off, then scoffed when Natasha refused to repeat herself. "Are you kidding me with this? Am I getting Punk'd? Is that even still a thing?"

Natasha's crimson eyebrows knitted together. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I am definitely not kidding. I know it's hard to believe, but this reality… it isn't real. It's just your memories mixing with your imagination, and mixing with whatever drugs Strange filled you up with."

Anger seeped into Evaline's voice, her sapphire eyes narrowing. "So Strange did do this to me."

"We kind of all did this to you, to keep you out of harm's way," Natasha said, wincing when Evaline stared at her with even wider eyes. "When you were hurt, we tried the conventional methods to help you, and when they didn't work, some of us became… desperate, willing to try literally anything. To protect you, we sent your consciousness to a different reality. We weren't even sure it would work, but we knew it was better than the way you were going, so we had to try.

"Strange, of course, was more than willing to try, though the word 'experimental' doesn't even begin to describe the process," Natasha said, obvious disdain for the neurosurgeon lacing her voice before her expression softened again. "Stark and Banner were less inclined, not because they cared any less for you, but the opposite, actually. They were afraid of the side effects and the long term consequences it would potentially have on you."

Evaline's voice was flat as she registered the newest character in the story. "Stark. As in, Tony Stark."

"Yes," Natasha said, although she threw Evaline a confused look like she was surprised that was the one fact Evaline had decided to hang onto. "The state you're in is due to a combination of Strange's astral projection, a medication regimen that he and Banner created together, and some memory recall technology that Stark had created. With all three, the goal was to kind of move your consciousness out of your body the way Strange and his people do, to allow time for your brain and body to heal without you actually dying."

Evaline remained silent at the news that she had barely escaped death; Natasha took this as her understanding her situation, and decided to continue to plow through the news.

Natasha motioned around the café, saying, "This is your last true memory, the last time you were… whole. Strange hopes that by making you relive it, that you will understand the world you will come back to is the one you belong in."

Evaline shut her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose tightly. "I do _not_ understand. You're saying that this is my memory of the real world I belong in, but I do not belong here, since I have obvious knowledge of the future… Jesus Christ."

"Things will all make sense," Natasha promised, her eyes shooting out the window again, seeing something that Evaline knew wasn't visible to the naked eye. "The time has almost come."

"The time for what, Tasha?" Evaline's tongue fit neatly around the shortened name, and she was surprised that her subconscious had forced out the nickname. Natasha turned to her, looking almost completely serene as Evaline asked once more, "Tasha?"

She was answered by the blast of an explosion.

It happened on the street, but it was still near enough to Natasha and Evaline that she felt the heat of the blast and all of the debris it sent her way. Part of the café's wall collapsed onto them, and together, they grunted and heaved as they shoved it off. Distantly, Evaline felt pain, but her adrenaline was strong enough that she barely noticed it.

Natasha turned to her, and somehow Evaline knew that the Natasha who had spoken to her just moments ago was different than the one who now stood in front of her. Reaching behind her, the red-headed heroine took out her own handgun and said, "I'll go to the left."

Just as suddenly, Evaline felt the puppeteer of her consciousness take over again as she nodded to Natasha and took out her own Beretta, heading to the right of the debris. Although there were screams, cries, sirens, and the crackling of fire and crumbling of buildings all around her, Evaline felt that her ears were tuned for a specific sound, a specific sight.

Her eyes locked onto a figure in the middle of the crater the explosion had caused, stepping out from between flames as if they couldn't even affect him. _They wouldn't,_ Evaline's subconscious offered, followed by a line of statistics rolling across her brain like a computer screen.

 _Robert Hunter. Alias: Nitro. Status: Human/Mutant – Kree experiment. Affiliation: Army of Evil, Hood's Gang. Powers: Self-explosion, fire resiliency. Weaknesses: Vulnerable and powerless in close combat, high frequencies._

When Nitro stepped out of the fire, Evaline confirmed her target by his most unique characteristics: wispy white hair that fell to the back of his shoulder blades, piercing blue eyes that turned into the hottest flame shortly before his explosions, and the lack of a right arm. She kept her weapon drawn, but simply watched him carefully as he stepped out of the disaster area his explosion had created.

Natasha's voice came in over the coms, asking, "What's his play? There's no banks or high-end stores nearby, and not even a populated enough area to warrant a high casualty count. And he's not with any one of his usual cronies. What's this guy up to?"

"I'm not sure," Evaline found herself saying, although her subconscious fought the words and thoughts rattling through her brain. "But Natasha, we've got to take him down."

"Take him down?" Going by just the sound of her voice, Evaline could imagine that the spy's face was one of disbelief and questioning. "How do you suppose we do that?"

"The same way we always do," Evaline commented, deftly switching out her Beretta for a Stunner she had somehow secured in the small of her back. "We have our orders to apprehend him if possible. I think it's possible."

"No, something's not right about this, Eva," Natasha said slowly over the com, stalking Nitro from the other side of his blast radius. "He's moving… too slow. It's like he's waiting for something. I suggest we stand back and wait…"

"I'm not taking any chances he goes to somewhere more populated, or gets away. I'm engaging. Keep him focused on you," Evaline said firmly, ignoring Natasha's obvious annoyance as she ran along the debris outlining Nitro's field. Checking every few seconds, Evaline saw that his eyes weren't even on her, but remained on Natasha, who was distracting him from the other side as he began stalking toward her.

Nitro's back remained turned as he began to move slowly after Natasha, and his distraction allowed for Evaline to get closer and closer to him until she reached the point where she could take him easily in hand-to-hand contact. She saw him stiffen as she got within five feet of him, leaping at him right as he turned to face her with a snarl on his face. He quickly hit her in the shoulder, but she absorbed the hit, knowing if she stumbled out of the small circle around him, he would be able to explode again and very likely kill her.

She leveled her gun at Nitro, attempting to aim for something non-vital per her orders. Nitro seemed amused by the small weapon Evaline was aiming at him, and she found her distaste for him growing, especially as he swung out toward her again, knocking the gun out of her hands, and they re-engaged with only their hands. Despite the fact that Nitro had to focus to use his powers, and a direct assault like the one Evaline was bringing down on him lessened that focus and kept him from using those powers, he was still incredibly strong and a talented fighter.

They both took several punches, kicks, and scratches as the two of them took any shots where they could. As the fight progressed, Evaline grew more and more regretful that she hadn't just shot him and called it a day, especially as Nitro got in one good shot to her collarbone that knocked the wind out of her. As Nitro thrust out his arm again to hit her, Evaline dodged it and kicked him in the abdomen, sending him to the ground a few feet away from her. She rushed toward him, fist raised into the air behind her, as she leapt over him. He rolled away at the last second, but Evaline couldn't stop the momentum as her fist crashed into the pile of debris that had been beneath Nitro. She grunted in pain, noting the obvious fracture in all four of her knuckle bones from the impact she had made with the ground.

She whirled around to face Nitro again, speaking into the com, "Natasha? Where's my back-up?"

"Bogies just leaked out like the roaches they are," Natasha's voice said, coming in barely audible above the sound of grunting and punches landing. "Requesting back-up at State Street scene. Nitro and six bogies present. Agents Kaeser and Romanov in pursuit."

Evaline took a deep breath before leaping to Nitro again, trying to close the distance anyway she could, to keep him distracted and keep him from blowing up into pieces once more. Nitro, however, saw her coming, and looked around wildly for anything to give him an advantage in the fight.

Just as she was about to make it within punching distance of him, Nitro leaned down and ripped a piece of rebar out of the section of demolished building at his feet. Although she tried to put on the breaks, Evaline nearly ran right into Nitro. He grinned wildly as he swung the piece of rebar at her, knocking her back several feet as she felt a bruise begin to bloom on her abdomen almost immediately. She had little time to worry about that, however, especially as she lifted her eyes and saw Nitro's blue eyes turn into solid blue flames.

She screamed as Nitro exploded again, throwing her back once more and causing the already desolate city block around her to crumble further. The debris pinned Evaline, missing her head but landing heavily on her chest and limbs as she felt several bones break, including a rib that punctured her lung as her chest began to fill with blood.

She heard Natasha speak calmly into the com device, "Second explosion at State Street scene. Nitro and three bogies fleeing scene, in pursuit. Agent Kaeser MIA. Back-up still needed."

Evaline tried to open her mouth to respond, to tell Natasha where she was and that she desperately needed medical evacuation, but the blood filling her chest had begun to climb up her throat. Between the liquid in her lungs and the fact that they were compressed from the pressure of the debris, it was almost too hard for Evaline to breathe, never mind use the oxygen to convey the message.

Just as Evaline was feeling her anxiety ratchet up to a new all-time high, a figure stepped between her and the blazing sun overhead, and her body relaxed at the sight of her savior. A gratingly deep voice sounded out from the source, saying, "Agent Kaeser. What a pleasure to meet you."

The unknown man leaned down, and Evaline saw he was wearing a baseball cap with the brim lowered so that she could not see his face. Just as she was about to scrounge together enough oxygen to question him on what he was doing, he reached forward and wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, forcing it up and making it infinitely more difficult to her breathe as she let out a whimper against her own will. She felt, rather than saw, the needle slide into her neck, feeling whatever drug filling her veins and moving quickly throughout her body.

Between the blood loss, the adrenaline rush from her other injuries, and now the drug, Evaline found herself asking almost involuntarily, "What… ?"

She was unable to finish her question fully as the effects of the drug took hold. Her mind felt like a movie in fast forward as she laid beneath the debris, snapping through different clips of scenes she did not recall in the least.

Raising a gun and shooting it at a demented robot that fell to pieces in front of her. Fixing a bowtie around Strange's neck before turning to grin at Christine next to him. Leaping off of the edge of a highway, only to be snatched in midair by a machine with gleaming silver and red wings. Throwing kernels of popcorn at Wanda, who grinned and returned the favor with her own ammo of M & M's. Her callused hands resting gently over a dirt-encrusted white star on blue leather, with a larger, more callused pair of hands in fingerless leather brown clothes covering her own.

The scenes gave way to the shadowy figure standing over her again, before she heard the rip of an airplane engine overhead. The man's head turned to look over his shoulder, before turning back to Evaline and removing the needle from her neck, the voice grating out again, "We're not done yet. I will see you soon, my dear."

Evaline tried to open her mouth to call out, to yell at the man who had assaulted her, but blood was filling her mouth and choking off her vocal cords. She coughed as she heard someone distantly calling her name, her vision beginning to gray at the edges as she felt blood beginning to spill out of her mouth and down the side of her face. Trying in vain to look at the cloudless sky above her, the gaze was blocked by two figures both dressed in red and silver suits, one with metallic wings spread out behind him and the other with a full head helmet.

She felt the pressure on her body began to decrease as the two men worked to shove the debris off of her, the one with wings squatting to bring her into his arms as he said, "I've located Kaeser, and she's not looking good. We need medical evac, now, on State Street."

Natasha came over on the coms again, her voice only slightly tense as Evaline heard someone grunting in the background with obvious pain. "Medical evac on its way to you, Sam. I'm in pursuit of Nitro and whoever it was that attacked Eva. Lang, can I get some backup?"

Scott Lang looked to Sam for clearance, who he nodded once. "I can get her to the Quinjet. Go."

Not waiting another second, Scott took off running toward what was presumably Natasha's location. Sam, meanwhile, lifted her gently and bridal-style into his arms, then said, "Sorry, Eva. It'll be a little smoother if I fly."

Without waiting for her response, Sam's metallic wings unfurled behind him as he took off at a smooth yet speedy coast toward the Quinjet. Agents in tactical gear were laying down cover fire for them so Sam could make a straight shot for the Quinjet without jostling Evaline too much, and they were able to get to the cargo bay safely, where a medical team was waiting with a stretcher at its mouth.

Sam laid Evaline down on the stretcher, and almost immediately, one of the nurses snapped an oxygen mask to her face as another slid a needle into one of her veins. Sam tore his goggles off, throwing them aimlessly behind him, before placing a hand gently on the top of Evaline's head as she looked at him blearily. The words and commands of the doctors around her became warbled and marbled, but she heard Sam clearly as he said, "You're safe now, Eva, but you better hold on. He'll kill me if you don't."

Evaline's vision, at this point, had narrowed down to pinpoints as she used her last breath to ask, "He… ?"

Her vision finally went to solid black for a few moments as Sam and the Quinjet disappeared, and she found some peace in the solitude and silence of nothing for a few moments. Just as she was beginning to panic that the blackness was all the rest of her life would be, she heard the insistent beeping of her heart monitor again, slowly increasing in volume. As it became louder, she began to hear voices shouting, becoming more and more clear until she could make out Strange's voice above the whole lot of them, shouting, "Stop pushing the Ativan!"

She heard Christine growl, "She's still seizing, Stephen."

"Watch the waves," Strange said as Evaline's vision slowly started coming back into focus. "She's coming out of it."

True to the doctor's words, Evaline's vision finally seemed to stabilize as Christine reached over and removed the oxygen mask from her face. Evaline turned toward the two doctors, suddenly beginning to recognize the familiarity in both Christine and Strange's faces as more than just the celebrities she had imagined them as before. Bits and pieces of memory - or hallucinations, she was still unsure - slid through her brain: Strange donning a red cloak instead of a white coat, making symbols with embers in front of him; Christine straddling a patient on a stretcher, her palms slamming into their chest and Evaline racing behind; both of them, in a tux and gown, respectively, holding champagne glasses up toward where she stood.

Strange noted the expression on her face, and he visibly brightened. "You remember."

"I don't…" Evaline stopped talking, pressing her lips together tightly as she tried to fight off he wave of nausea that nearly overtook her. When she felt it mostly subside, she said, "I don't remember… I don't know…"

"You _do_ remember," Strange insisted, his eyes flickering to the EEG screens behind her before returning to rest on her face. "You _do_ know. Your EEG is confident whereas you are not."

Christine frowned, and commented warningly, "Stephen…"

"It is true," Strange said sharply, his grey eyes sparking with scientific fervor as he turned back to Evaline, who was having a hard time focusing on her face as she tried to rationalize the memories she had with the new ones she gained. The process was interrupted, however, by Strange, who was nearly shouting as he insisted one more time, "What do you remember, Eva?!"

Mostly out of dizziness related to memories rushing back into her brain, but also out of spite, Evaline answered Strange by leaning over the edge of the bed and throwing up all over his shoes.


	4. Chapter 4

With quick reflexes, Wanda, who had been standing on one side of the bed and holding Evaline's hand, pulled back her hair out of her face. However, despite the fact that her emesis had been directly aimed toward Strange's loafers, it never quite got that far as some glowing orb caught the vomit and carried it away to the sink, dumping the contents cleanly. Evaline watched with wide eyes, searching the relatively calm expressions of those around her as none of them truly responded to the phenomena.

Clearing her throat, she asked hoarsely, "So, no one's going to comment on _that_?"

"It's just Wanda's telekinetic powers," Strange answered simply, tilting his head slightly to the side as he continued to stare at Evaline like she was a science experiment, despite the fact that she had just nearly ruined his shoes.

Evaline's voice came out nearly strangled as she asked, " _Just_ her telekinetic powers?"

Christine and Strange shared another look across the bed, before Bruce stepped to the other side of the bed. He was looking down at Evaline with the same look he had given her upon first entering the hospital room, although the green coloring had drained entirely out of his veins. Distantly, she wondered how much time had passed since the last time she had been conscious; she knew, somehow, that it sometimes took him quite a lengthy period of time to de-Hulk.

She froze at that thought, returning the wide-eyed gaze to Bruce as she whispered, "You… you can…"

She felt the bile begin to rise in her stomach again, and Christine quickly grabbed a large mauve bucket at the bedside and forced it underneath Evaline's chin. Evaline shook her head and motioned the container away as she held down the vomit, for the moment.

As she willed her stomach to stay strong, Strange asked, "So, you have memories of Claire and me, and you remember Bruce's… alter ego. What else do you remember?"

Evaline removed her hand from Wanda's, ignoring the hurt expression on her face as she did so, and turned fully to Strange as she shook her head. "I feel like I know some things about you all, but I wouldn't say I remember them, exactly. In my world, you are all fictitious comic book and movie characters, and some of what I remember from those movies and books lines up with the truth in this world… or, at least, that seems to be the case so far."

"But you said you recognized us," Strange said sagely, his eyebrows knit tightly in confusion. "How so, if we're just characters?"

"Because you look like the actors who portray you all. For example, you were a British actor named Benedict Cumberbatch who also played the likes of Kahn in _Star Trek_ , Sherlock Holmes in a modernized series, and Alan Turing in a biopic." Evaline felt her stomach shift again before she asked, quietly, "Do all of those things still exist in this world?"

Strange's eyes flipped to a monitor behind her as he spoke distantly. "While Benedict Cumberbatch does not, all the rest do… but I'm not sure to what extent other things in that alternate universe match up with this one."

"It doesn't matter right now," Christine said sharply, her words directed toward Strange before her eyes softened as they met Evaline's. "How are you feeling, Eva?"

Grunting as she shifted in the bed, her weight fighting against the mechanized deflation and inflation of the mattress beneath her, Evaline asked, "Emotionally, or physically?"

"Both," Christine said gently. Strange looked as if he disagreed with that response, but he wisely kept his mouth shut, seeming to realize that Evaline was responding to Christine's questions and statements far better than his own.

"Emotionally, to be determined. Physically, despite the fact that I still feel like I could vomit all over Strange's shoes, I feel… okay, considering I just woke up from a coma," Evaline said, relatively proud of herself to be able to stream all the words into one sentence. She blinked twice, then turned to Christine, asking quietly, "How long was I out?"

A small wince flashed across Christine's face. "Five months, almost to the day."

"Five…" Evaline's breath rushed out of her at the enormity of time she had spent asleep. "How… how am I still able to function? Besides my amnesia, I mean. How are my muscles not mush? How am I not withered away without proper nutrition? How do I not have pressure ulcers on literally every inch of my body?"

"Because we have the best technology available, and some of the best minds behind it," Christine said gently, her eyes flickering to Bruce and Strange for a moment before returning to Evaline's face. "No expense was too high to us to keep you in peak condition."

The phrase rankled Evaline's nerves as her anger, her frustration, began spiking again. "Yeah, because I'm your freaky science experiment."

"No," Bruce spoke up, shaking his head adamantly as he stepped forward, the angle of the fluorescent lining making the wrinkles and furrows in his tanned skin that much darker. "Eva, we all would've done anything – or, actually, we _did_ do anything – to make sure that you woke up, and when you did, that you could get back to normal."

She hesitated at the last word, then let out a bitter laugh. "'Normal'? Yeah, that seemed to work out fantastically."

Bruce seemed to shrink back at the venom in her words, and Christine took his place, her voice tired and a little sharp as she said, "We tried, Eva. We did everything we possibly could think of. Bruce and Stephen were constantly working on drugs to keep your mind going and keep you in that alternate universe so your mind didn't lay stagnant, working in conjunction with Wanda to keep your neurological and psychological components intact. Stark, Peter, and Scott worked to develop an exoskeleton that we could place you in to keep your muscles moving and working, with injections that stimulated the muscle growth hormones your body would normally produce if you had been awake. We reached out to Asgard and Wakanda - despite the fact that we're not even supposed to know the latter even exists - to see what technology we could garner from them. Thor even allowed for us to use Loki's scepter at one point to power a machine we thought we needed. We did _everything_ we could think of to save you from _dying._ "

The barrage of names – Stark, Peter, Scott, Asgard, Wakanda, Thor, Loki - made Evaline's head swim as images of their MCU counterparts flashed crazily in front of her eyes. She felt the pressure in her head beginning to build, and as she squeezed her eyes shut, she heard Strange say gently, "Christine."

"I'm sorry," Christine's voice called out, breaking on the apology. "I'm sorry, Evaline. I can't begin to imagine how difficult this is for you, I know I can't. But please, please… don't forget, we're hurting, too. And we really are just trying to help you, even if it feels like we're hiding things from you or just treating you like a science experiment. We just want you to get better."

The pressure finally ebbed from Evaline's brain as she opened her eyes again to see Christine had silent tears streaking down her cheeks, and Evaline felt guilt settle in her chest. "I'm sorry, too. It's just, I barely know who you all are, and you're talking about me to an extent that I'm wondering if you all know me better than I know myself. Not remembering anything about the past that was supposedly yours is terrifying. There's this gaping landscape of emptiness in my brain and I don't… I don't know how to fix all the holes, and make my mind complete again. And I'm not sure that's something you all can really help me with."

There was silence around the room as the little team that had collected around her looked at each other and at Evaline, all of them equally at a loss for what to say next. Suddenly, a new voice spoke up from the corner of the room, saying, "Well, let's start at the end, then, and work backwards."

Out of the shadows stepped a new figure that Evaline recognized by his telltale floor-length trench coat and black eyepatch, as well as his foreboding and unsmiling presence. With his one good eye, he gave a cursory look at Evaline as he asked, "What is the last thing you _do_ remember?"

With Strange incessantly asking the same question, Evaline's annoyance had piqued; with Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D, asking her, some bigger sense of responsibility clicked in Evaline as she answered the question briskly. "The last thing I remember was someone carrying me into the Quinjet after I got injured. I think his name is Sam Wilson."

Bruce and Wanda shared a relieved look that didn't go unmissed by Evaline as Fury responded, "Yeah, that sounds about right. What do you actually remember about getting injured, though? Last anyone had eyes on you, you were just underneath rubble from Nitro's explosion. You shouldn't have had the extensive and complicated brain injuries you came in with, considering none of the rubble actually hit your head."

Evaline's vision went fuzzy for a few moments as she saw the mysterious figure looming over her again, felt the needle sliding into her neck. A machine behind her beeped erratically for a few moments before Wanda and Christine's hands were on her again, gently soothing her and bringing her heart rate back down as the beeping stopped.

Fury's voice was sharp, but not rude, as he asked, "Kaeser?"

Evaline swallowed hard again, still trying to gain back the full ability of her jaw muscles as she said, "There was a man, different from Nitro, that came toward me after the explosion. I was pinned beneath debris and I could feel my lungs filling up with blood, and I could barely breathe or talk, but I could see the shadow of his figure looming over me. I didn't see his face or anything, as he was wearing a ball cap that disguised it, but he leaned over me and put some sort of needle in my neck."

She didn't miss the quick, albeit unsurprised look Bruce and Strange shared. Her voice broke as she snapped at him again. "This is obviously not news to you."

"We suspected," Bruce admitted, giving her an apologetic look that creased the corners of his mouth. "Like Fury said, we couldn't connect your physical injuries to your neurological ones. We figured, from the way you were acting, that you had been given some sort of drug or otherwise affected by some power, but we couldn't find any remainder of whatever it was in your body."

Evaline felt her stomach growing into knots. "Are there people with powers out there like that, who could do such a thing?"

"You're in the room with one," Bruce said, as his eyes shifted to Wanda, whose jaw tightened at the negative attention. "And she's not the only one."

"It is concerning that you seem to be relatively oblivious concerning the… extraordinary limitations of this world compared to the one you thought was real," Strange said, the corners of his mouth tightening into a frown.

"What is more concerning," Wanda said, glaring at Strange, "is the fact that someone obviously targeted Eva and tried to alter her neuro status, and we have no idea who or why would do such a thing. How is that not the focus right now?"

"It is," Fury said, nodding toward Wanda before shooting Strange a look as he stepped forward to argue. He insisted, "It _is._ Strange, is Kaeser stable for now?"

"Well," Strange drawled, his eyes flashing to the monitors for a moment, "yes, physiologically speaking, but I can't make any sure diagnosis on her psychological stability."

"We can keep assessing that as we go," Fury said to Strange, talking over rather than to Evaline again as she narrowed her eyes at the authoritative figure in the room. "For now, it's important that we debrief her on what went down so we can assess the immediate threat to her, and to us."

As she sensed Fury and Strange about to get into another argument over her fate that she seemed to have no voice herself in, Evaline squeezed her eyes shut and shouted, "Stop! Just stop!"

Everybody in the room went deadly quiet, all eyes turning toward her, watching carefully for any sign that she was about to snap for the final time. They all eyed Evaline as she slowly controlled her breathing, trying to reign in her thoughts as well as she tried to make sense of the situation she found herself in.

Finally gaining control of her thoughts and her words, Evaline opened her eyes and addressed the room, her voice dangerously low as she spoke. "You all seem to be forgetting that I am, at my base, a human. All of you are talking around me, about me, like I'm some sort of rabid animal that can't control my actions, but I am still a human being, and I am unmoored with none of you lending a hand to help. Not only do I not remember what happened to me in my supposed last moments, but I don't remember _anything_ about my life. I don't know what activities I like to do in my free time, or what kind of foods I like to eat, or what books I've read."

Wanda's eyes glistened with tears as she stepped forward and whispered, "Eva…"

Evaline pulled away from the witch's comforting touch, noting the concerned look Christine and Bruce shared as Wanda adopted a hurt expression. Strange remained unmoved by Evaline's soliloquy, and Fury simply got up from his chair and began walking toward the wall. Desperate for someone to say something, anything, Evaline added, "I don't know where I went to school, or who my friends are, or where I live. I don't even know where home is. How can I not know where my home is?!"

Her words were taking on a hysteric tone, and the only response she got was a nod from Strange to Fury, who now stood in front of the far right wall of the room. Just as Evaline was about to let out a blood-curling scream just for the sake of getting some sort of response, Fury lifted his hand to the wall, pressing gently until the panels of the wall moved away to show a glass panel several feet up in the air.

It took Evaline several moments for her to register what she was looking at, and to match it up with one of the memories that had already flashed through her brain. Expanses of green grass and gray airfields stretched out before her, with a cluster of buildings directly in front of the one that Evaline was in.

Her gaze at last snagged on the most important part of the landscape, and Fury noted where they remained locked as he turned to give her a small smirk. His voice held no particular warmth as he said to her, "You _are_ home, Agent Kaeser."

Her eyes were locked on top of the center building's roof, where a giant A was emblazoned on the roof.

It was the unmistakable symbol for The Avengers.


	5. Chapter 5

Before she knew quite what she was doing, Evaline was standing out of the bed again, surprised by the strength in her legs. As she walked toward the window, she noticed Wanda and Bruce following her closely, the latter's hands half-outstretched as if to catch her in case she stumbled.

She passed Strange and Fury, coming nearly nose-to-glass with the window as she took in the array of buildings that spread out before her, compiling what she could not believe was an actual top secret facility. As far as the eye could see, the complex was surrounded by miles and miles of unmarred forest and small mountain ranges, obscuring the valley of airfields and training fields alike from prying eyes.

"What…?" She was breathless, her eyes still fixating on the large 'A' emblem that she had quite literally only ever seen in movies before. She swallowed, her saliva finally fixing her dry mouth, as she managed to get out, "How in the hell did I end up here?"

Fury, who was now standing immediately to her left, handed her a simple black tablet, the screen adorned with S.H.I.E.L.D's symbol. She took it from him and he leaned over, pressing one fingerless gloved hand to the screen as the tablet chimed, "Access confirmed. Fury, Nicholas J."

The screen opened up to reveal some sort of profile that looked like a more complex baseball trading card, and Evaline startled when she realized it was her serious face looking back up at her from the top of the page. Quickly, her eyes shot down the rest of the page, reading the most basic information about herself and startling at how slightly different it was from what she thought she had known.

 ** _Name:_** _Evaline Renee Kaeser_

 ** _Birth:_** _September 18, 1985 in Alexandria, VA_

 ** _Parents:_** _Michael Kaeser and Guinevere Benoit-Kaeser_

 ** _Siblings:_** _Jeremy Kaeser (age 36), Gabriel Kaeser (age 30)_

 ** _Other family:_** _Sister-in-law Joanna Kaeser (nee Dryer), nephew Henry Kaeser (age 6), niece Daria Kaeser (age 4)_

 ** _College:_** _Harvard University_

 ** _Areas of study:_** _Pscyhology and Linguistics, with specialties in Mandarin, Swahili, French_

 ** _Abilities:_** _None supernatural; see further work-up for full list of physical abilities_

 ** _Affiliations:_** _S.H.I.E.L.D, The Avengers Initiative_

 ** _Security Clearance:_** _Level Eight (currently rescinded to Level Two)_

"S.H.I. . recruited you one year into your undergrad at Harvard," Fury offered, watching as Evaline tried but failed to scroll down for more information, information that didn't currently exist at her level of clearance. Ignoring this, Fury continued to talk, saying, "Your father used to be a Black Ops operative for the CIA, and he had trained you and your siblings in hand-to-hand combat growing up – things like tae kwon do, tai chi. You and your younger brother are the ones that really excelled in it, but your IQ far surpassed your brother's.

"Because of your father's status as a Black Ops operative, you were already slightly aware of the intelligence community and the fact that you wanted to be a part of it," Fury continued, watching Evaline's face carefully with his one good eye as she continued to stare at the screen in front of her. "We weren't the only ones who tried to recruit you, but because of your… father's past experiences with the CIA, you wanted to work for something different than what was directly an extension of the government. You wanted to work for something that had a little more leniency, and dealt with more than just espionage. You wanted to work for us."

Finally looking up from the screen, Evaline felt her eyebrows furrow. "How in the hell did I know you even existed, if you're such a secret organization?"

"We have our ways of making you aware without revealing too much," Fury said vaguely, one corner of his mouth slightly quirking upward in what Evaline thought was probably the closest he ever got to smiling. "Those details aren't important, at least not right now. What details are important are the ones that you lost during your coma. This tablet gives you very low level access to the Internet and some of S.H.I.E.L.D's files, at least to start with, and there's two reasons for that. Firstly, we're still not sure what drug was injected into you, and if it made you susceptible to suggestion or not, and if you might be acting as a spy within S.H.I.E.L.D."

Wanda stepped forward as if to argue that point, but Bruce held her back with a slight shake of his head. Ignoring both of them, Fury said, "Secondly, even if we trusted you and gave you full access, I'm told by Strange here that I might overload your brain by allowing you access to all of the complex missions and histories of this organization."

At the mention of his name, Strange scowled. "I would be able to give you a more accurate assessment if you allowed me more time to…"

"I don't think that Agent Kaeser would benefit from any more poking, prodding, or interrogating right now," Fury said sharply, cutting off Strange, who sulked like a scolded child in his corner of the room. "We have plenty of time to go through all of that nonsense. For right now, and at suggestion by Dr. Banner and Stark, I suggest she have some time alone to figure some things out for herself."

Evaline quirked up an eyebrow. "What, like meditate to find my true inner self?"

Fury shot her an annoyed look, although the corner of his mouth twitched again. "No, you smart ass. Use the tablet in front of you to search through the Internet about things you're curious about. A lot of your personal information may not be up there, but work on trying to find discrepancies. They may be the clue to figuring out exactly what effect that mysterious drug, as well as Strange's treatment, had on you, and to figure out what we need to do to reverse it."

"I think that's a good idea," Christine piped up, earning a betrayed look from Strange, who obviously wanted to continue relentlessly running tests on Evaline. Noticing his expression, Christine wrapped a hand around his upper arm and said, "Let's go, Stephen."

"We'll be right outside, Eva," Wanda said, reaching over to squeeze Evaline's free hand and giving her a small smile. "If you need us, just press the call light button or poke your head out. We can help, too, with telling you what's going on and…"

She trailed off at the look and small shake of the head Fury gave her. Swallowing hard, she gave Evaline another small smile as she said, "Just let us know what you need."

Bruce and Wanda followed Christine and Strange out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Fury still stood across from Evaline as she asked a bit peakishly, "Are you going to sit in here and stare at me as I look up all this information, to make sure I don't have some sort of mental breakdown?"

"No, that's why we have the cameras," Fury said honestly, his eye darting up to the machines that hid in every corner of the room. "I'm still here, because I need to tell you that if you remember anything about why you were attacked, or you remember anything about any of your missions that you have questions about… you come directly to me. Nobody else."

Evaline rose her eyebrows again. "What are you, my life mentor?"

"No," Fury nearly snapped, his eyebrows pulling together tightly in the middle of his forehead. "I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D, and as such, I have to protect our secrets. Even though everyone who left the room has varying levels of clearance, you had the highest out of all of them and may be aware of certain… events that they don't know occurred. Additionally, according to the various people working on your case, we should've been able to reawaken you from your coma without any detriments to your memory. Something's not right, and if there's one thing I need you to remember, it's not to trust anyone."

Taking a seat on the edge of her hospital bed, Evaline shot Fury a curious look. "So, why should I trust you?"

"I didn't say that, either," Fury said vaguely, turning so sharply that his trench coat snapped in the air behind him. He exited out the same door the others had left through only moments before, shouting over his shoulder, "Happy hunting, Agent Kaeser."

As soon as the door vacuum-shut behind him, Evaline got more comfortable in the bed, grabbing a journal someone had left on the nightstand and bringing it closer to her. She spent hours scrolling through the tablet, scribbling down all she could remember about the fake world that still felt more real than the one she actually belonged in. She wrote a single thought, idea, or concept on each page, leaving plenty of room beneath each to leave her notes, as she started to make decent headway on some of the things she was most curious about.

 **The Avengers**

 _Public members: Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Thor, Spiderman, Ant Man, Falcon, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, The Wasp, Vision  
Private/supporting members/associates: Dr. Strange, Christine Temple, Black Panther, Nick Fury, Winter Soldier (maybe?)  
Associated teams: S.H.I.E.L.D, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy – Individual profiles needed_

 **S.H.I.E.L.D**

 _Still alive and well and kicking, although still pretty covert, too. Not a lot on the free interwebs. Might have to get into questioning Fury a little more? Or someone who might actually talk to me?_

 **Who is the president?**

 _Not Trump, who lost all of his fortune after the SEC busted him a few years ago. Some guy named Matthew Ellis – used to be military, seems like a decent guy, Republican with liberal leanings. Further workup needed._

 **Game of Thrones**

 _Still both a book and TV series, but Robb Stark is still alive and the biggest claim to the throne?! Must investigate further._

The list continued on and on for pages, and she lost track of time scribbling down anything and everything she could think of. Just as she was typing in "bestselling books of the last year" into the web browser, she heard voices rise quickly in the hallway outside her room. There was even a small yelp and the sound of something crashing, and the sound of more grunting before a languid voice said, "I told you that he wouldn't be stopped for anything."

Strange's voice finally became clear through the din as he said, "Steve, she's really not stable, and she needs some rest…"

"I don't care," a deep voice cut off Strange, as Evaline closed her journal the moment the door to her room burst open. Standing in the doorway, staring at her with complete surprise in his eyes, was the 6'3", blonde-haired, blue-eyed all American boy she had seen and drooled over on screen too many times to count.

She couldn't help but gawk at him in return, especially when he sat down at the chair beside her bed and grabbed her hand in his, lifting it to his mouth and kissing it. "Eva."

In the background, she could hear Strange hissing at someone, "I thought you told him…"

"I tried, but it's hard to talk to him when all he can think about is how his comatose girlfriend is awake," a sardonic, familiar voice replied as a second figure stepped into the doorway. Dark hair, tinted sunglasses, business suit, and a bewildered expression not unlike the blonde's moments earlier stared back at Evaline. "Well, I'll be damned."

Strange stepped back into the picture, his voice insistent. "As I said, she is not aware of who you are quite yet."

"No, I know who they are," Evaline managed to make out, shaking her head. "I just thought they were fictitious until now."

"Oh, ha ha," Tony Stark said, stepping to the opposite side of the bed as Steve Rogers, who was still looking at Evaline with almost tragically beautiful blue eyes, his focus obviously entirely on her. As she had learned to do with what she had thought to be the celebrity dopplegangers, she automatically looked for the differences, and found them easily. The Steve Rogers who stood before her had light freckles across his nose and cheeks, his hair was blonder, and his shoulder muscles were visible through the light cotton of his long-sleeved tee. She couldn't even begin to imagine where his muscles curved underneath the arm sleeves.

Tony jumped up onto the countertop that ran along one side of Evaline's room, wiggling until the back of his calves hit the cabinets beneath them. He rose an eyebrow when Evaline continued to give him a blank stare, and slowly said, "Okay, you're not making some rude comment back, so maybe that's actually true."

"It is true," Evaline said shortly, narrowing her eyes just slightly at Tony, although she could understand where his disbelief was stemming from. Still, she insisted, "In my world, you were an actor named Robert Downey, Jr. And Steve was an actor named Chris Evans."

"Actors, hm?" Tony asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "In what kind of movies?"

Ignoring the lewd innuendos from the man behind him, Steve's eyes remained locked on Evaline's as he asked gently, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm slowly starting to feel better," Evaline admitted, although she felt something insistent tugging at her brain that just wouldn't give. "I think it'll be a while before I start to feel normal again, but I think I'm making some headway, at least. It's hard to feel any level of normal when you can't remember anything."

Steve looked a little surprised at the comment. "You can't remember _anything_?"

Just as she was about to open her mouth again to answer him, Christine cut in, saying sharply to the other two men standing behind Steve, "I think this is a conversation the two of them need to have alone."

Tony looked like he was going to argue, but he quickly shut his mouth when Evaline looked at him. She felt her face fold into an expression that asked him not to push the issue, and she wasn't quite sure how he read it so easily when she wasn't even sure herself what it meant. He still hovered in the corner of the room, however, before Christine clapped a hand on his collar and threatened to pull him out. He followed Strange out, albeit slightly unwillingly, before he turned in the doorway and met Evaline's eyes, all humor and sarcasm lost from his face as he said, "It's good to see you up and running again, Kaeser."

He left without a response from Evaline, leaving her alone in the room with Steve. A few moments of comfortable silence passed between them as they simply looked at each other, Evaline raking her eyes over the man who sat beside her, taking in his crystalline blue eyes, the faded scars across his knuckles and chin, the way the left corner of his mouth always seemed upturned into a smile, even know as he looked at her with unwavering concern.

Steve's hands were still wrapped tightly around hers, his eyes lowering as he asked quietly, "What all do you remember?"

Finally, it all clicked: the familiarity and openness as he looked at her, the way his calluses fit between her own, the wariness and concern that Christine had been watching them with. She felt the blood begin to rush to her face, as she said, "I don't remember anything, practically, but there's… there's some things I just know."

Steve's face lit up, making Evaline's heart drop further. "Like what?"

"Like, I can tell that we had… something," she said carefully, not feeling comfortable enough to put a label on whatever their relationship was, or had been. Steve looked like he wanted to barrage her with more questions to determine exactly what memories her brain was providing her with, but he wisely held back, visibly looking like he had swallowed his own tongue in order to so.

Evaline's voice was slow as she added, "Steve, I'm sorry, but…"

She let her words trail off, unsure of how to verbally tell him that she had no actual recollection of the status of their relationship. It didn't seem that she actually needed to verbalize it, however, as his face fell and he said quietly, "Oh."

"I want to know you, and I feel, deep down, like I do," Evaline said, her hand reaching out almost involuntarily to cradle Steve's face as his blue eyes looked back up to hers again, hope sparking in them once more. "But I know it wouldn't be fair to either of us to pretend that I do."

"I know," he said gently, as he pushed his face further into her hand and shut his eyes, as she wrapped her fingers around the back of his neck to pull herself down so she could kiss him on top of his head. He rested his forehead in the crook of her neck as they just sat there for what felt like lifetimes in the embrace, their bodies perfectly molding around each other.

There was a knock on the door, and Evaline quickly pulled away from him. Steve looked like he was going to murder whoever walked in the door next as he called out, "Yes?"

Christine was the one to peek her head in, and Steve softened. She cast a quick look at Evaline but then turned to look at Steve instead, saying, "Stark just got called out, said you should meet him back at the heli pad. We'll keep a close eye on her, Steve."

He looked over at her, as if asking for her permission. It was a weird sensation to have the celebrity she'd most had dirty dreams about looking at her like that, but Evaline kind of loved it.

Still, she nodded her head, squeezing his hand once, realizing the contours of her fingers somehow knew the calluses on his hands. "It's okay. I'll be okay."

"I'll come back as soon as I can, and convince Strange to let me take you home," Steve said, his words firm for Christine's sake before he realized what he had said. His cheeks went red as he said, "I mean, if that's what you want."

Evaline's stomach tied into knots at the idea of sharing a home with someone who, to her, was still just a stranger except on her TV screen. Sensing her discomfort, Christine quickly stepped forward and spoke up, saying, "You both live in the Avengers Tower, with a few other members of your team. You have your own room, but it's kind of like living in a college dormitory."

Pressing his lips together, Steve nodded once, cluing into Evaline that although she might have her own room, she and Steve had likely been unofficially sharing at least one bed before her accident. Her stomach continued to tie itself into knots, before he cleared his throat and said, "I know that everything feels weird and strange and unfamiliar right now, but we're your family. If you aren't happy at the Tower, then… then you can leave."

Evaline blinked twice as she saw the tortuous expression that crossed over Steve's face at the suggestion.

Suddenly, Tony's voice was coming from the ceiling over the PA system as he said, "Paging Old Man Rogers, paging Old Man Rogers. There's a situation in Brooklyn that needs our attention ASAP, and it's not getting any better the longer you make me wait up here in the heli for you. Get your ass up here."

Steve's jaw tightened and he opened his mouth, presumably to bite back some response about what Stark could do to himself, but Evaline grabbed his hand and squeezed it again. "Go. We can talk about… all of that, later. Go be a hero or whatever it is you do."

Somehow, Steve's mouth managed to fit half into a frown and half into a smirk. "Whatever it is I do?"

For the first time since she had woken up, Evaline allowed herself a small smile as well. "You know, I kind of have amnesia and a false sense of reality. For all I know, you could just be the nerdy tech guy that Stark carries around with him to help him with the suit."

Steve let out a genuine laugh that mended together some of Evaline's emotional wounds. "I'm sure if I went anywhere near Stark's suit without him in it, he'd have one of his robot soldiers shoot me on sight."

As if hearing them talking about him, Tony's face sang over the PA system, " _Steeeeeve. Steve Roooogers."_

Steve shot an annoyed look to the ceiling like the enigmatic engineer could see him, then leaned over and gently kissed Evaline on the forehead without a second thought. As she breathed in deeply to calm her rattled nerves at the proximity of him, she inhaled a sharp scent of cotton, mint toothpaste, and musky aftershave that sent her nerves all into a tangle again.

Obviously not recognizing the effect of his closeness, Steve smiled once again at her, although it was a smaller and private grin. "I promise, I'll be back before you know it."

She returned the smile as he finally turned and exited the room, shutting the door behind him as he closed her off from the hustle and bustle of the hallway. Waiting a few moments with her eyes on the door in case he returned for something – what, exactly, she wasn't sure – she finally moved after seeing a Black Hawk zoom past her window, featuring a flash of red and blue within.

Taking her tablet tentatively from the bedside table again, Evaline searched 'Steve Rogers'. She found information on the exhibit centered around him still featured at the Smithsonian in D.C., found plenty of edited photos of the hero in action, found some news clips of interviews he had given, and – finally – a picture of the two of them. According to the caption on the less-than-reliable gossip site, the picture had been taken near the Seine in Paris, only a few weeks before Evaline's accident had occurred. Although both of them were wearing sunglasses and ball caps, their smiles were easy to see, as was the love between them.

Evaline hadn't realized a few tears had escaped her eyes until Christine walked back into the room, saying, "What's wrong? What did Steve say to you?"

"Nothing," Evaline said honestly, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. Christine looked doubtful, so Evaline repeated, "Nothing. He was nothing but a gentleman. But I… I found this picture of us, on the Internet, and we looked so happy together. And the way his hands and face feel, the way he smells… it is familiar. But I still don't know him, and I don't…"

Some alarm started to beep behind her, and Christine leaned over, shutting off the machine before wrapping Evaline in a tight hug. Evaline let the doctor hold her, feeling that even their embrace was something familiar as she squeezed her eyes tighter against the other woman's shoulder, her nerves singing and her stomach continuing to roil.

She knew that she would have to probably relieve through an infinite amount of more moments like these, ones that made her physically sick to push through, but she also knew that she needed answers to who she was and how to live her life.

She just wasn't sure how on Earth she was supposed to begin.


	6. Chapter 6

Where she began, was in re-training to become an agent of S.H.I. .

There had been a lot of talks, some including her but most not, about whether or not Evaline was stable, mentally and physically, to go through the rigorous process of what Strange wanted to call her 'reintroduction'. Although all parties concerned wanted Evaline to find herself again, many of them disagreed on the best route.

Those who supported her reintroduction, led by Strange and Fury, thought that by providing Evaline with the routine and training regimen she had been living off of for the last decade and a half of her life, her memories would be triggered and she would return to the agent she was. Those who supported a more gradual course of action in focusing first on reintroducing her to society and then the organization, led by Steve and Stark, believed she could do a little training but ultimately should focus on recovering her memories and reclaiming her life. And finally, there was a third party, led by Christine and Wanda, who believed that Evaline had to take things on her own pace and should not even be concerned with returning to S.H.I. life for now, if ever.

Although Evaline agreed with the second group, and with Steve as a byproduct, it was naturally Fury's decision that won out. After a series of physical and psychological tests to determine if she was ready to go back into training, at least at the base level, he wasted no time in creating a plan for her. As it had been for the two weeks since she had woken from a coma, the details of this plan and of her life were meticulously judged and enforced by her sworn protectors, Steve and Wanda.

Wanda focused on working with Evaline to try to recover some of her lost memories, while Steve focused more on the physical aspect of things. His past as a soldier and his current status as a trainer for the new additions to the Avengers made him perfect for the role, but Evaline could sense that whatever emotional connection he had to her also caused him to hold back a lot when they started delving into hand-to-hand combat.

"I get that you're a super soldier and everything," Evaline said as she kept her fists up by her chin like he had taught her, "but I'm not going to learn anything if you're basically just poking me. I need to learn how to take a hit."

Steve allowed a small, albeit slightly irritated, smile to pop onto his face. "You also aren't going to learn anything if I just pummel you without teaching you anything else about offense or defense. I've been doing this for decades – trust me."

"Well, I wouldn't say you've been doing it for decades, exactly," she said, dodging one of his strikes and landing one on his upper arm that made him draw his shoulder in tightly and wince only slightly. "You were a Capsicle for what – seven of those decades?"

This time, his hit landed on her stomach, knocking a little bit of the wind out of her. Steve, who had been clenching his jaw tightly before, looked surprised at the strength of the hit as he reached out to her, saying, "Eva, I'm – "

"Finally hitting me like you should be?" Evaline asked, waving away his arm as she took a few steps back and went into a defensive position again. She tossed her copper hair, tied neatly into a French braid, over her shoulder, revealing the S.H.I.E.L.D insignia on the chest of the standard issue tank top she had been given.

Steve looked like he was going to argue with her again about how she should be hit, when a voice spoke up from the shadows, "She's right, Rogers."

Both of them instinctively straightened at the sound of the newcomer's tenor. Fury stepped out from between a number of bubba weights hanging from the ceiling, dodging them easily without brushing against any of them, despite the fact that there seemed to be barely enough room between them for Evaline's slim build.

Fury continued talking as if he had not just entered the room in the most dramatic way possible, saying, "Her enemies in the field are not going to hold back."

His lips moving into one thin line, Steve countered, "I'm well aware of that, but the fact remains that we're basically starting at Stage Zero for her. I can't just start hitting her like she's already been trained, even if she does seem to be catching on at a faster rate."

Still trying to catch her breath from the hit to her abdomen, Evaline put her hands on her hips and said tightly, "I think that's the first compliment you've given me since we started this."

"However," Steve said pointedly, shooting her a look out of the corner of his eye, "I don't think she's anywhere near ready to go back into the field, so I don't really think having her at field-level readiness is exactly a concern right now. She's still recovering physically from the fact that she was literally in a coma…"

Annoyance began to seep into Evaline's voice as she interrupted. "Strange and Banner cleared me."

"… and," Steve said, continuing to talk as if Evaline hadn't even spoken, "we're trying really hard not to overload her brain with too much information, between the ins and outs of combat and the history of S.H.I.E.L.D and basic culture references and…"

Now, it was Fury's turn to interrupt as he said flatly, "You're saying all this like I'm not aware of the complexities of the situation. Are you forgetting that we went through all of this with a different subject only about five years ago?"

Steve turned red to the tips of his ears at the reference to his own revival of sorts, and his embarrassment at being called out by Fury made Evaline grin, even as he insisted, "Well, I'm a genetically modified super soldier. She's just…"

Evaline lost her smile quickly, demanding, "I'm just what?"

Turning to her, she saw the apologetic look on his face as he tried to scramble for an appropriate yet non-insulting answer to her question. He was saved, however, by an unidentified agent dressed in standard S.H.I.E.L.D gear calling out to Fury from the catwalk above the training room, "Sir, Bravo team has just returned from Wakanda."

Although Fury nodded in recognition of the words, it was Steve who seemed to respond more to them, his face going tight with awareness. Evaline was left in the dark as she finally asked, "What is Bravo team?"

"They're more of a who," Fury said, beginning to walk out of the training room. Steve followed closely behind, so Evaline did as well, grabbing her cell phone on the way out and stuffing it into the waistband of her pants as she struggled to keep up with both of the fast moving, long-legged men.

As they made their way through the cavernous hallways to where Evaline knew the hangars were located, Fury's voice easily echoed back toward her as he said, "Bravo team is our assault team we sent out for more… covert and sensitive missions. They're all part of the Avengers as well, but all of them have a little more specialized training that makes them better for the quieter stuff."

"Specialized training?" Evaline asked, nearly jogging now to keep up with Steve and Fury. "Like what?"

"Two of them were soldiers in the Armed Forces," Fury said, as Evaline spotted Steve's mouth tightening again that caused a simple raised eyebrow from her that he nor Fury saw. Fury continued going over the roster as he said, "One was trained as a Soviet spy. One is a mechanical engineer who has a suit that can shrink to a molecule's size. And one can walk through walls."

Under her breath, Evaline commented, "Well, that escalated quickly."

Although she was sure the Director had heard what she had said, he chose to ignore it as he opened the wide double doors that led out to the hangar, revealing a Quinjet with its cargo doors open and unloading. Fury, Steve, and Evaline continued to advance toward the plane as the B team stepped onto the ramp, led by a fire-haired beauty clad head-to-toe in black leather whose eyes immediately snagged on Evaline. A corner of her mouth lifted up into smirk as she said, "Well, I'll be damned if it isn't Evaline Kaeser, back from the grave."

"Hi, Nat," Evaline said, the nickname rolling easier off of her tongue than the agent's full name. Natasha Romanoff seemed to lose a bit of her smirk at Evaline's familiarity, visibly reminding herself that despite it, Evaline's memories were not intact.

Evaline gave a small smile to the rest of the team compiled behind Natasha, giving them the names she had learned for them as she said, "Scott. Rhodey. Vision."

"You are a sight for sore eyes, you are," Rhodey said, moving forward to embrace her, although he still wore the legs for his War Machine suit on the bottom half of his body. He smelled like metal and sweat, but also of orange slices and cucumber soap. Evaline realized belatedly that the hug was the first she had where she wasn't held as if she was a fragile glass figurine about to break; Rhodey hugged her as if they were old friends, and Evaline felt in her bones that they were.

As she stepped out of his embrace, she turned to the red-and-silver clad figure next to Rhodey as Scott Lang grinned at her, laughter lines surrounding his eyes as he threw his arms out toward her. "Kaeser, bring it in."

Evaline couldn't help but let a small laugh loose as she hugged the hero known as Ant-Man. "Hey, Lang."

"It is a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Kaeser," Vision said in his formal tone as she separated from Scott. The humanoid AI shifted a box he was holding from one arm to the other as his eyes flicked behind her, his magenta skin tightening as his mouth moved into a small but discernable frown. "Director Fury, where would you like the package delivered to?"

"Bring it to the Applied Sciences division. Banner should be down there with a team," Fury said, as Vision nodded once and simply flew through the solid concrete wall, his golden cape the last they saw of him. Evaline blinked hard a couple of times to process the image, but was interrupted by Fury as his voice asked sharply, "Where's Wilson?"

"Bailed out before we landed," Rhodey said, rolling his eyes at the thought of it, although his eyes seemed to narrow as they landed on Steve for a heavy second before returning to Fury. "Said he needed to go to Mech Bay to get something in his pack fixed, and didn't want to delay it."

Evaline's eyes moved to Steve as Rhodey's had, and she saw the corners of his mouth tighten. Fury seemed to ignore the whole subliminal interaction between Rhodey and Steve as he said, "Speaking of Mech Bay, Stark's waiting there for you, Rhodes. Said he had some sort of hardware he needed to upload into your suit for an update."

"Looks like our reunion's going to be a little delayed," Rhodey said, giving Evaline a smile as he saluted her. "Duty calls. I'll catch you later, Kaeser."

As he walked off toward Mech Bay and Stark, Fury also left the group without preamble. Natasha, meanwhile, leaned in closer to Evaline and asked, "Is that sweat I see on your upper lip and at your hairline? Has Captain Rogers been working you hard while I was away?"

"He's been working me, although I'm not sure 'hard' is how I would describe it," Evaline said easily, giving a small smile to Steve to let him know she was joking. He gave her a tight one back, and she threw him a curious look that he simply shook his head at. In the back of her mind, Evaline had noticed that she and Steve had started to get more comfortable with their own silent form of communication, especially when surrounded by the louder members of their team such as Stark.

"Well, no worries," Natasha replied, bouncing Evaline out of her reverie. "I'm sure you'll benefit far more from my training regimen now that I'm back, considering I'm the one who trained you initially when you were first brought on."

Steve stepped partially in front of Evaline as if Natasha was a direct threat, saying, "No. Absolutely not."

Evaline shot him a confused and surprised look at his sudden defensiveness. Natasha's eyebrows pulled together as she asked, "What, Rogers? I know you think you're the only one who can take care of her, but I was taking care of her long before you two even met."

"I will continue her training," Steve said tightly, shaking his blonde head once adamantly. "You can help if you want to, but I'll be the one in charge of it."

Reaching out to gently touch his arm, which was fully tensed as his hand gathered into a fist at his hip, Evaline said gently, "Steve…"

With her arms crossed over her chest, Natasha cut in, saying, "What the hell is your damage?"

"My damage," Steve replied, his voice equally as sharp, as he gently brushed away Evaline's touch, "is that you were the agent in charge of the op that sent Evaline into a coma, and somehow, you came out unscathed. I don't think you should be in charge of retraining her considering you've put her in such serious danger before."

While Evaline nearly gaped at the accusation Steve threw Natasha's way, the redhead simply rolled her eyes as it seemed the insult rolled off of her. "Oh, this old shtick. I thought we got over this?"

Steve glared at Natasha as he said, "You were the leading agent on the mission, and you didn't tell Evaline to stand down even though that's the plan of action you wanted to take. You let her take over, and it was the wrong decision. You let her out of your eyesight, and then you took entirely too long to call for back up, knowing full well you were overwhelmed. You didn't protect her during that mission, so I don't think it's in her best interests for you to train her."

Evaline finally gathered enough of her wits as she stepped between the two of them, especially when she saw Natasha's cool and assessing expression that she knew meant she was one more insult away from swinging at Steve. Evaline simply interrupted, saying, "That's not fair, Steve."

Backing both Evaline and Natasha up, Scott finally stepped forward as well, saying, "Yeah, we should've been paying better attention to the situation from the sky, and we weren't."

Steve whirled on him instead, his blue eyes flashing in the fluorescent lighting of the hangar as he said, "Yeah, you're right. You and… and Sam should've done a better job protecting them, protecting her."

Evaline didn't miss the way Steve's voice nearly caught on Sam's name, but Natasha didn't seem to notice as she simply said in a flat voice, "It was impossible for me to have eyes everywhere at once, and Sam and Scott were trying to find me, not Evaline, because she wasn't the one sending out a distress signal – I was. We went over all the footage a million and one times after, you know we did, and that guy that attacked Evaline seemed to pop out of nowhere. None of us could have seen him."

Steve took another step toward Natasha, brushing against Evaline as he did so, her body the only thing keeping him from stepping even closer to the redhead. "You were her partner. You should've been with her, protecting her."

"I thought I was," Natasha said, anger beginning to seep into her voice as she took another step closer to Steve, her own hands clenched into fists now as Evaline felt the whole situation beginning to devolve. "You've heard the transcripts, and you've said it yourself – I wanted to wait, but Evaline sprung into action before I could do anything, and then I just had to back her up the best way I could. I would have liked to have seen you done better."

Steve nearly growled, "I _would_ have done better."

Now, Scott joined Evaline to stand between Natasha and Steve as he turned toward the latter, saying, "Hey, back off, man."

Just as pure fury spilled across Natasha's face and she took another step toward Steve, Evaline finally snapped, saying, "Stop! Just, stop!"

Her voice echoed in the space of the hangar, and everyone in it stopped moving at her request. Natasha, Scott, and Steve all looked at her with wide eyes as if they had forgotten she was there, which, to Evaline, it felt like they had. A look like guilt flashed over Steve and Scott's faces; Natasha, meanwhile, collected hers into another cool expression that Evaline didn't believe for a second matched whatever chaos was reigning inside the red-headed, red-tempered woman's mind.

Speaking with a low voice, partly out of frustration and partly because they had gained a curious audience in the random agents around the hangar, Evaline snapped at them, "I'm tired of you all fighting over what happened to me, and I'm tired of you all trying to blame each other. The fact of the matter is, it's nobody's fault. Some freaky shit happened, and if I'm not pointing fingers, I don't think you all have the right to, either.

"Furthermore," she said, loudly enough that Steve, who had begun to open his mouth, shut it again, "I'm tired of you all talking about me like I'm not here, or like I'm not able to make my own decisions. I may not remember a ton, but I am still capable of taking care of myself and knowing what's best for me. So instead of assuming, or deciding for me, what I'd like to do, I would really appreciate it if you listened to me and asked me."

Even Natasha's face showed a little bit of guilt now, as Evaline said tightly, "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to my room to take a shower."

Now, Steve decided to speak up, reaching out to touch her arm as he said, "Ev."

She brushed him off, saying, "I need some space."

For a moment, he looked like he was going to argue with her or beg her to stay; instead, he shut his mouth and acquiesced, nodding once as she turned and stalked away from the trio, headed to her rooms instead. She spent the rest of the day blaring music through her headphones, ignoring the world as she tried to research it, adding to the long list of things that had changed or remained the same between the world she had known and the world that had apparently always been hers.

Refusing to leave her room for anything, she even went as far as recruiting a S.H.I.E.L.D agent she had been training with named Raina to bring her food from the kitchen so she didn't have to potentially encounter any of the Avengers in the hallway. According to Raina, Steve had practically born a hole in the carpet in the outer hallway leading to the wing where Evaline's room was situated; still, he didn't ask Raina to let him in, and instead had resumed his pacing as she had walked by him.

She was restless that night, thinking about Steve's inability to let her own voice be heard, about his anger toward his teammates – _their_ teammates – and his belief that they were to blame for what had happened to her, about the guilt that had flickered in Natasha and Scott's eyes at the accusations Steve had thrown at them, about the discord and tension that was flooding the complex.

Finally giving up on sleep, she changed out of her pajamas and into some work out clothes as she left her room and headed out to the nature trail they had surrounding the campus, trekking out toward the lake at the center of it at all that she had found on one of her runs with Steve. She somehow remembered exactly where it was despite only having been there a few times, and as it opened up to the moonlit lake, she felt some of the pressure move off of her shoulders.

She took a seat on a large boulder at the edge of the lake, staring up at the stars and tracing the constellations that she had known even in her alternate world: the Big Dipper, Orion, Aquarius, Gemini. As her eyes struggled to place the dots of white in the sky, she felt her stress begin to ebb away as her focus found something else to worry about.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of twigs cracking behind her as she startled, turning quickly and demanding, "Who's there?"

There were a few moments of silence before a voice said, "It's just me."

The words didn't clarify anything for Evaline, but the figure who stepped out of the forest did. Sam Wilson stood at the tree line, wearing joggers and an Air Force sweatshirt that he had his hands stuffed into the pocket of.

Evaline let loose a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding as she said, "Sam."

A complicated expression crossed over his face at her saying his name. "Hey, Ev. It's good to see you."

"You, too," Evaline said honestly, feeling some sort of comfort wash over her at Sam's presence. A few solitary memories flashed through her brain, although the man in the memories seemed slightly different than the one that stood in front of her. The Sam she remembered, even distantly, had always had a huge grin on his face, even in the middle of battle; this Sam looked downtrodden and exhausted.

She took a cautious step forward, and he seemed to nearly flinch. Quietly, she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Am I – ?" His eyes went wide with surprise, then he let out a slightly choked laugh. "You're the one who just came out of a five month coma, and you're asking me if I'm okay. Typical Eva."

Shrugging, and sensing that he would bolt if she took one more step toward him, Evaline sat down on the large rock she had been perched on before. Her eyes leveled with Sam's as she suddenly started venting to him. "It feels good, to be worried about someone else besides myself. I'm so tired of people asking me if I'm okay, like they expect the answer to be a resounding 'yes'. I don't want people to think I'm weak by answering no, but I also don't want them to assume I'm the same person they think I am, because… because I'm not."

"I don't think anybody thinks you are," Sam said sagely, taking a seat beside her on the rock. He faced the opposite way so he looked out toward the lake, but his voice still came back to her, saying, "I think we all hope that you are, or that you'll recover part of your identity. I also think that's a lot to hope for, and it puts a lot of pressure on you that you can't alleviate… and that's not fair to you. I'm sorry we're putting you through this."

Evaline was quiet for a few more moments as she said softly, "I know you all are here to help me. It's just… it's really hard to remember sometimes."

"I know," Sam said gently, keeping his eyes out toward the lake as Evaline kept hers out toward the forest. "It's also really hard for us to remember sometimes – Steve, most especially – that you are not fragile. As much as we want you to return to the Evaline we all knew, we're not allowing you to by coddling you. The Evaline we knew, and the Evaline that I know you are at your core, is the damn strongest woman I've ever met… and you are, too. We've got to start there and build around it, because that is the most essential piece of you."

Evaline tucked her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms tightly around them as she rested her chin on her knees. "I really appreciate that, that someone here agrees with me and has that hope for me."

"We all do. We just might not all show it the right way," Sam said sagely from beside her, leaning back on his elbows against the top of the rock. His face tipped toward hers, only half of it lit by the moon above, but she saw the curiosity on it. "Why are you out here this late, anyway?"

"The tension in the building was getting to a choking point," Evaline said. When she saw Sam's confused expression out of her eye, she reported, "Steve blew up at Natasha and Scott for their supposed roles in my… accident, saying they should've done a better job, as if they were the ones to blame."

His face paling, Sam hung his head guiltily. "He's right. We should've protected you. That's been haunting me every night for the last six months or so."

"Please, don't agree with him," Evaline said, shaking her head when Sam gave her another surprised look. "I do remember, basically, what happened that day. I don't know what was going on in the Quinjet with you and Scott… but I know that Natasha and I weren't ready for the assault we faced on the ground, so I'm assuming you all in the sky weren't ready for it, either. I don't think any of us could have prepared for the random guy who attacked me, that's for sure."

"Still," Sam said, stretching out his legs in front of him as his heels caught at the gravel underneath them, "Scott and I should have been more vigilant. We didn't have your back, and… and you could've died, Eva. We're not so sure you wouldn't have, had Strange not been available when we came back."

Tentatively, Evaline reached out and rested a hand on Sam's shoulder, the first contact that she had initiated with any of the new people in her life. Initially, he flinched, and she did in response; but when he relaxed, so did she, her hand molding around his shoulder like it had been there many times before. For all she knew, it had.

She kept her voice soft as she said, "It's nobody's fault, and it doesn't matter, anyway. I'm here, Sam, and although I may not be whole and perfect… I'm working toward it. Being sullen and blaming yourself will do nothing except make me feel worse, and I don't think that's what you want."

A few moments of silence passed before Sam turned toward Evaline, finally giving her a weak, small smile. "I see. So I have to get myself together for your sake?"

Evaline realized that even though Sam saw through it, that she had read him correctly: telling him it wasn't his fault and trying to absolve his sins that way wouldn't work with the veteran. She had to make him deal with his own guilt by putting something else on the line – her own health and well being. By making Sam think her own progress was tangential to him overcoming his guilt, it inspired him to do so.

She tried to maintain a blank face as she insisted, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I've taken enough classes and attended enough lectures on guilt and grief to know when I'm being played," Sam said, standing up from the boulder and putting out a hand to Evaline, "but I'll take it into consideration, Ev. I don't promise a complete turn around, but it should help… as would a good night's sleep, which I think I can get now. Ready to go back?"

"Ready is a very relative term," Evaline replied, reaching up to take his hand as he pulled her off the boulder. They walked close together through the forest, heading back to the complex, as Evaline said, "I don't remember the details, but I do remember you like to play the self-blame card a lot. I'm serious when I say, I don't need your guilt and everybody else's weighing on my conscience."

Sam laughed out loud this time, his pearly white smile breaking through the darkness of the forest surrounding them. "Okay, I'll try not to be too angsty around you, then. I'm sure you're getting plenty of that from Steve."

Evaline winced, thus confirming his assumption. "I'm not sure if angst is the right term for it, but there's definitely a lot of… emotion coming from him directly."

As if to prove a point, when they walked back into the Avengers facility, all of the lights in the hallways were blazing despite the fact that they had all been turned off when Evaline had left, and they heard voices growing louder the closer they walked to her room. Above them all, naturally, was Steve's voice, demanding, "Well, why isn't there a camera by that door? This is supposed to be a secure facility!"

"We're more concerned with people entering without an invitation rather than leaving," Natasha cut in drily, her voice flat but also just as tight as Steve's. As they turned the corner, the assassin's eyes cut right to them, and Steve, who had his back turned to them, whipped right around. His eyes went as sharp and cold as steel as he regarded Sam next to her.

Evaline eyed the two of them, both in loose-fitting t-shirts and shorts of varying lengths, and demanded, "What the hell is going on?"

"Prince Charming here apparently had your room rigged to alert you if you left in the middle of the night, and he came storming down here to supposedly save you," Natasha said drily, earning an accusatory look from Steve. "I'm sleeping right across the hall, although sleeping is a rather loose term for what I was doing, and I came out to see what he was doing."

"Well," Steve said, turning back to where Evaline was standing with Sam, "I was worried, okay? What if you had had some sort of mental break, and you left because you were scared or something?"

Sam stepped slightly in front of Evaline, saying, "She was with me, Steve. She's fine."

"Yeah, that doesn't mean much to me, because last time I left her in your care, I came back and she wasn't fine," Steve cut back, looking like he immediately wanted to swallow his words as Sam froze. Silence cut through the hallway like a weapon, before Sam turned and simply stormed out of the hallway.

Even Natasha's cool demeanor broke as she said, "Real nice, Rogers."

"Natasha, please go back into your room," Evaline said, exhaustion lacing her voice. Natasha shot her a surprised look and Evaline shook her head wearily, saying, "I can handle this."

Natasha glared daggers at Steve before finally doing what Evaline requested, slinking back into her own room, although Evaline didn't believe for a second that the spy's ear wasn't pressed right up against the door. She let a few moments of silence pass before Steve broke it, saying, "Look…"

"Stop," she said, turning to him, as her eyes flipped up to his. "I'm tired of having this conversation with you over and over again, but I need you to understand – I don't need you to annex everybody from my life in some misguided attempt to protect me. What happened, happened, and it sucks, it does. But the last thing I want it to do is to affect you all and your relationships and lives."

His lips pressed tightly together, his eyes flashing again as he said, "It's too late for that."

"No, I know that, but…" Evaline let out a big breath, trying to gather her words as she felt tears of frustration beginning to well at the corners of her eyes. The sight seemed to humble Steve a bit as he backed down just a little, listening to Evaline as she said, "This anger that you have at what happened to me isn't without reason, but it is misplaced. All of the people in this place – Scott, Natasha, and Sam especially – are hurting just like you, and aren't to blame. You're going to ruin this team all by yourself if you keep doing what you're doing, and I…"

She caught a sob in her throat, steeling herself against it as finally, Steve remained quiet and watched her carefully. The words came to her as she said, "I don't know a lot about this world or this life, but I do know, even from an outsider's perspective, that this isn't you, Steve. And it scares me and hurts me to see you acting like this."

His gaze softened as he stepped forward and said, "Eva…"

"Find yourself again before worrying about trying to help me," Evaline said to him, reaching out to squeeze his hand once. He held onto her hand tightly, like a lifeline, before she released the touch and backed up toward her bedroom door, opening it behind her. "If you want to help me, help yourself first."

He was still staring at her in stunned silence as she slipped into her bedroom and shut the door, closing him off from her once again.


	7. Chapter 7

When Evaline awoke the next morning, after getting only about a total of one hour of decent sleep, she felt the pressure of her headache and the stress she knew the day would inevitably bring pressing against her forehead. She tried to take a shower in the bathroom adjoined to her bedroom, but when that didn't work, she swallowed some ibuprofen before getting dressed, towel-drying her hair, and escaping to the larger complex.

Walking out of the hallway where her particular suite was housed, she exited into the hexagonal common area that sported a large kitchen, a small gym, three different den areas, a study area complete with two rows of the best computer systems, and a nook. Four of the six sides of the hexagonal room led to hallways that held more suites much like the one Evaline was currently staying in. Her hallway, emblazoned with a large number 2 on the door, was directly parallel to where she knew Steve's was, a hallway labeled with the number 5.

She moved straight through the large common area, entering the hallway with the number 1 plastered on the front of it, which acted as a connection between the dormitory area to the rest of the complex: the classrooms, the observatories, the command deck, the training areas, and so on. Despite the fact that she had slept so little the night before, Evaline was actually a mess of nerves and energy that she desperately needed to work off, preferably without Steve shouting in her ear.

Although she hadn't even considered that Steve himself might be in the gym, she realized her late concerns were for nothing. In the Avengers-only gym, complete with training simulations and obstacle courses designed for their respective powers, the only other person in there was Natasha, who was pummeling a dummy with her batons. Her screams of effort echoed throughout the nearly empty gym, her attention completely focused on the enemy in front of her as Evaline watched her fluid and lethal movements with admiration.

In the middle of a move, Natasha finally whipped around, startling Evaline before she smirked at her. "Come to just watch?"

"No," Evaline admitted, realizing that it was perfect Natasha was standing before her. Natasha tilted her head curiously, and Evaline stepped closer to her, saying, "I agree with what you said yesterday. I think you're a more suitable choice for my training than Steve, both because you're the one that originally taught me everything I know, and because Steve is too hesitant when it comes to being rough with me. If I'm ever going to return to my job as a field agent, I need someone to toughen me up a little bit."

Although she seemed surprised at Evaline's monologue, Natasha's face burst into a grin as she said, "There's the Eva we all know and love – standing up for yourself and for what's right. Don't worry, I'll whip you into shape in no time."

As Natasha turned away to grab two pairs of boxing gloves that were lying on the floor, Evaline said cautiously, "You know Steve will probably flip out when he finds out I'm using you as my trainer now."

"I can handle Steve Rogers," Natasha said breezily, tossing Evaline one of the pairs of gloves as she slid them on. "Anyway, that's a problem for later. He's currently in the fields, training with Wanda. Unless they decide to finish up ridiculously early, we should be able to do your training today in relative peace, at least."

Settling into the first defensive position Steve taught her, Evaline raised her fists to her chin as she smirked at Natasha. "Then let's do this."

Natasha returned the expression in kind before launching an attack on Evaline, critiquing and correcting her as she did so. They trained for hours, running through some rudimentary skills and drills that even Steve had put her through. The biggest difference between Natasha and Steve's styles of training, however, was that Natasha recognized that she might have to break Evaline a little bit to build her back up, and she wasn't afraid of doing so. When it came to sparring, Natasha didn't hold back on her hits, and Evaline felt bruises beginning to sprout along her skin.

Weirdly enough, the feeling was exhilarating as she felt another piece of her personality and her life click into place.

As they finally took a break, the door to the gym opened and Evaline paused, preparing herself to see Steve and deal with his opinions on Natasha training her. Turning, she saw two different figures walking in through the door to join them, and she relaxed as she realized neither of them was Steve.

Sam grinned at her, throwing out his arms to either side as he said, "You all have been training in here and keeping the amusement of that to yourselves? Selfish."

"The amusement?" Evaline asked, still breathing heavily from the last set of kickboxing exercises Natasha had just put her through. "Exactly what part of this is amusing?"

"You two are pretty evenly matched, so it can get kind of into dirty fighting territory between you," Scott piped up from beside Sam. "Before… everything, the two of you fighting was like watching Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier."

"Woah, woah, woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves here," Sam said, waving his hands in the air as he did so. "These two are way scarier than those men."

Evaline laughed easily, grabbing one of the towels off of the fresh set someone had left on the bench, wiping away the sweat dripping off her chin. "I'll take the compliment, and hopefully get back up to that level soon."

Sam lost his smile, but Scott's simply softened as he said optimistically, "Yeah, I'm sure it'll happen soon."

Just as a blanket of awkwardness was about to settle across the room, Tony's unmistakable voice called out over the PA system, "Avengers! Time to get off your asses and do the work you're getting paid to do. Meet up in ten minutes in Banner's basement."

"He always says 'the work we're getting paid for' like we're getting millions of dollars," Scott said as he grabbed Natasha and Evaline's water bottles, tossing them at the two spies before he began headed toward the exit doors. "I don't think he realizes he's literally the only one of us getting millions of dollars."

Sam threw Scott a self-deprecating smile, saying, "We didn't join this field for the pay, though, did we?"

"Guess not," Scott admitted, sighing dramatically, earning a grin from Evaline and a roll of the eyes from Natasha. "Oh, the dreams I had when I thought I'd become a high-paid engineer…"

"Yeah, and then you decided to act like Robin Hood and get caught," Natasha said roughly, making it to the exit first as she ripped open the door. "I imagine this gig is a little bit better than life in super max."

The entire way to the basement was spent with Scott and Natasha bickering and teasing each other incessantly, Sam butting in every once a while either to add a quip or act as a referee. Evaline watched the entire interaction with a simple smile on her face, content with the fact that she was growing more comfortable with at least the three people with her, the three who didn't treat her as over cautiously as everyone else did.

When they arrived at the basement that housed Banner's laboratory of sorts, Evaline noticed that the four of them were not the only ones who had been beckoned. Bruce and Strange stood at the centermost table, both of them leaning into microscopes, scribbling on notebooks, and muttering under their breath to one another. Tony stood closely behind, monitoring their work and providing the occasional dry dig at them. Shortly after Evaline, Natasha, Sam, and Scott had entered the room, Wanda and Steve came in through the hallway that led from the training fields, both of them in workout clothes that had Evaline diverting her eyes, especially from Steve's shirt that clung tightly to every slight curve of his muscles.

After casting a cursory look around the room, his gaze heavy on Evaline with Scott, Sam, and Natasha for a second, Steve turned to Tony and asked, "What's this about?"

"It's about what Bravo team was up to yesterday," a voice came from the shadows, as Fury stepped out of seemingly nowhere to join them. Evaline herself startled, but noticed nobody else in the room did; perhaps they were just chronically used to the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D appearing out of thin air.

Wanda was the one to ask, "Are we finally going to learn what was in the mysterious package they brought back? Vision's been refusing to tell me."

"Well, we're going to try," Strange said flatly, his voice coming out slightly muffled due to the fact that his face was still against the microscope. "Natasha, you want to explain?"

"We were already on assignment in Cape Town when we got the notification that Evaline had woken up, sans her memories," Natasha said, reaching out to a glass container on the counter between Bruce and Strange. Her nails tapped gently against it as Evaline eyed the kelly green plant within that closely resembled a succulent. "We reached out some feelers and Wakanda said they might have something that could help her, in favor for… another job she had completed for them."

Evaline quirked an eyebrow and said, "That doesn't sound ominous at all. What was the job?"

"Hopefully I won't need to tell you after you take this… drug, or whatever it is," Natasha said, sliding the container across the table so it was within Bruce's reach again. The doctor barely noticed, as he still had his eye practically glued to the lens of the microscope, fiddling incessantly with the knobs on either side of the machine as he tried to get a better view.

Steve's lips were a thin line as he said, "Is it a drug?"

"Not exactly," Vision piped up as he floated through the wall to join the conversation.

Tony, who had been leaning casually against the wall just inches from where Vision had entered, had visibly startled as he shouted at the humanoid, "Doors, Vision! What did we say about using doors?!"

"I apologize," Vision said in such a flat tone of voice that Evaline disbelieved he was actually sorry. Turning from Tony, he said to the rest of those assembled, "It's a naturally occurring complex that the Wakandans insist should be consumed in its raw form. It helps the subject access their Memory Plain and also helps them identify the fractures within so they can be properly adjusted."

Wanda piped up, "So, it should help Evaline recover her memories?"

"Theoretically, yes," Vision said in that typically vague way of his.

"Then why are we running tests on it?" Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest as his mouth tightened, his agitation practically tangible. "I thought we all agreed that we'd do whatever it took to give her back her memories."

Strange finally lifted his face from the microscope beneath him, shooting Steve an annoyed look as he said, "Because we still don't know exactly what the drug is, how it works, how it will truly affect Evaline, and if it is or is not dangerous."

Rubbing her hands over her own arms to calm herself, Evaline asked a little warily, "Do we think the Wakandans would have lied to us about what that is?"

"No, not exactly," Bruce said, lifting his head from his own microscope, "but we have to take into consideration that you were injected with something five months ago, and we still don't know what. It could still be in your system, and this… flower, or whatever, could react negatively with it. We're going to run some tests on some of your blood to make sure it doesn't react, but we want to give it some time to make sure it doesn't have any long-lasting effects either."

The plan was safe, and made sense to Evaline, but she was still disappointed that the return of her memories would be delayed a little bit longer. She nodded her understanding at Bruce, who looked slightly apologetic, as Steve asked, "How long do we think that's going to take?"

"However long it needs to take," Strange said pointedly, giving Steve another annoyed look that the super soldier glared at. When Wanda cleared her throat and gave Strange a look that told him to stand down, he sighed and said, "Banner and I are working as fast as we can, but we don't know what this substance is. It could take us a few minutes, it could take us weeks. There is honestly no telling, and even the Wakandans aren't sure considering the addition of whatever complex is in Evaline's system already."

Steve gave Evaline a worried look before turning back to Strange. "So it could still be a long while before we even try to see if it works?"

"Yeah," Bruce answered, still wearing that apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry, Eva…"

"No, it's okay," she said, giving him a weak smile in response. "I appreciate you guys doing all you can to help me recover my memories, and I understand the… complexity of this situation. But I'd definitely like my memories back sooner rather than later, so I guess we'll leave you to it."

Evaline felt a tightness in her chest as she turned away from Banner and Strange's experiments and began to exit out of the basement. As she left, however, she felt someone reach out and gently grab her arm, a voice calling out gently, "Eva."

She turned and blinked up in curiosity at Steve, noticing that Sam and Natasha were watching them carefully from still inside the laboratory as Steve nearly whispered, "Can I talk to you? Privately?"

Despite the fact that Evaline wanted a bit of space considering their argument of sorts from the day before, and the news that there might be a plant available to salvage her memories, Steve's wide open crystal blue eyes and the gentle way his hand held her wrist made her say, "Yes."

He looked relieved as he gently guided her away from where the rest of their teammates were exiting the basement behind them. Wanda shot her a look of concern, but she shook her head at her to call her off; she nodded respectfully and followed the rest of the team back toward the main parts of the complex while Steve led her further down the maze of hallways in the basement.

Finally, he stopped in front of a nondescript door, opening it to reveal a home theater that was empty, lowly lit, and quiet. As soon as they entered, Evaline shut the door behind them and asked, "What did you want to talk about?"

"You were right. The way I'm acting is not only irritating you, but is also putting this team's unity in danger, and that's not alright," Steve said, sighing as he took a heavy seat on one of the chairs. Evaline simply watched him in silence, sensing that he had many things he wanted to say, but needed the space and time to come up with the appropriate words.

Finally, the golden-haired soldier lifted his head as he said, "When you were fighting in Chicago, our team – me, Stark, Wanda, Clint, Bruce, and Vision at the time – was deep in an operation in Chechnya trying to crack down on warlords who had gotten hold of some Chitauri weapons. We didn't actually hear about your accident until almost eight hours after it happened, which, adding that to the ten hours it took for us to fly back, felt like a lifetime to me. To all of us, actually."

Evaline took a seat on one of the other chairs nearest Steve, sensing they would be there for a while. He barely registered the movement; his eyes were nearly glazed as he stared off into the distance, as if he was staring directly at the past.

He continued the story, saying, "We were getting updates, of course, and Banner and Stark were constantly on the phone with Strange and others, trying to get technology together and sent to the Avengers complex, to here, where they had airlifted you. I don't know if anyone ever told you, but you were just unconscious at the time – not technically in a coma yet. We just couldn't get anything to wake you up.

"They thought," he said, his voice growing heavier and thicker with emotion, "that I might be able to wake you up, that my voice…"

His voice broke, and he trailed off, clearing his throat as Evaline watched him with slightly widened eyes. She reached forward and gently put a hand on his knee, a touch that he startled at before relaxing. Evaline offered, "I wasn't Sleeping Beauty, and you weren't the prince, Steve. Something else was seriously wrong with me that simply your voice couldn't fix."

"No, I know that now, but…" He shook his head again, using one of his hands to wipe away some stubborn tears that had formed right at the edge of his eyelid. "I blamed myself, for not being there to protect you. I know it's stupid and unreasonable considering the field of work that we were both in, but it was still hard not to think what would've happened had I been there for you.

"When I finally showed up, you were actually in surgery. We all ran to the OR where Strange was performing some sort of experimental surgery on you, and Banner and Wanda got to go in, but Strange didn't want me to. Sam, Nat, and Scott were all waiting right outside the OR, and my anger was so misplaced, I…"

He trailed off again, this time to allow a flush to rise up in his cheeks as he said, "I broke Sam's nose, and Scott's collarbone, trying to fight past them to get in. Finally, Tony, who had gone somewhere else in the complex originally to try and find a piece of technology he had shipped, came flying in his suit and had to subdue me. I think I resembled something closer to a feral animal than a trained soldier."

Evaline hadn't even realized she was moving closer to Steve almost involuntarily, until her hand had already reached out to wipe away some of the tears that had streaked down his cheeks, matching her own. At her touch, Steve startled just a little bit before saying, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."

"No, I…" Evaline stammered, removing her hand from his face to wipe away her own tears as she blinked furiously, wondering what had made her reach out toward him so instinctively. "I'm sorry I made you relive through all that, and that… that happened to you. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you."

Steve swallowed, hard. "It was one of the hardest things that's ever happened to me, if not the hardest. Just not knowing, and still not knowing, what was going to happen… I'm sorry I've been acting so over protective of you, but I just can't live through that moment again, not knowing if you were going to live or survive or remember who I was."

"I know, and I understand. I'm sorry for not understanding earlier, but I just needed some room to breathe, and to regain some sense of normalcy," Evaline said, earning a nod from Steve. She took in a deep breath and added pointedly, "Also, I'm really not the one you should be apologizing to first."

"I know. I'm trying…" He trailed off, pulling a hand over his blonde hair and causing the back half of it to stick up. "I'm trying to come up with the words to say that'll make things right with them, especially Nat and Sam. I was too harsh with all of them, but especially the two of them because…"

"Because they were your best friends," Evaline finished for him, earning a surprised look from Steve that she simply responded to with a wry smile. "Like I said, some of the things in this world transferred over to the one I was in. Although it wasn't explicitly stated in the movie, it was implied that you were closer to the two of them, and I can tell from watching the three of you interact that there's a lot more hurt than anger there. To me, that means it was more of a betrayal than anything else – and that means there was some sort of tight relationship to break beforehand."

Steve looked at her with slightly widened eyes before stammering eloquently, "Well… yeah."

The simple response from him earned a small laugh from Evaline, which also seemed to surprise him. "There's a lot I can learn beyond reading from the Internet or old S.H.I.E.L.D files. I assume my ability to read people and situations like this is one of the reasons I was probably recruited."

Shooting her a small smile, Steve agreed, "Probably. That, and the fact that you were a black belt in basically every form of karate or whatever known to man."

"Mm, that also seems like a plausible explanation," she responded, grinning back at him.

He continued to smile, although she saw a little bit of sadness pulling down at the corners of his mouth. Just as she was about to ask him what he was thinking about, he said, "I know Nat and Wanda have been trying to warn me off from coming on too strong, but… I've just really missed your smile, Ev."

"I know," she said gently, her eyes lowering for a moment before lifting back to his. "I know, because I've missed yours, too."

"Well, then," he said amicably, grinning wider now, "let's agree to do a lot more of it."

"I feel like if you fix things with your teammates, there will be a lot more of it," Evaline said, getting up from the recliner as Steve followed her motions.

"You're right," Steve said, nodding his head with renewed purpose as he began to lead the way back out, headed toward the elevator bay just around the corner. "I think I'm going to go talk to Sam first."

"I think that's a good idea. Scott will probably be easy, but Nat will probably be the hardest to forgive and forget. Starting out somewhere in the middle and getting Sam on your side will probably help things," Evaline said as they arrived at the elevators.

Steve shot her a surprised look for a few moments before chuckling, saying, "It's when you say things like that, that I forget you're not the old Evaline. Like you said, you're just… naturally very good at looking things strategically and analyzing the situation at hand."

"Again, I imagine that's why I was recruited," Evaline cracked, getting into the open elevator car and turning back around to face Steve, who still stood outside in the hallway. She tipped her head in curiosity, feeling her hair slip over her shoulder as she asked, "You coming?"

"I think I'm going to stay down here for a while, and get my thoughts and act together before going to find Sam," Steve admitted, a small blush in his cheeks that made Evaline smile again. "I'll update you later on how it all goes."

"Okay," she said as the elevator doors began closing between them. "Good luck, Stevie."

She saw his face light up at the nickname that had slipped through her lips, again almost involuntarily. Just as calling Natasha 'Nat' had come so easily, so had 'Stevie', a sign she took to mean that she was finally closing the gap between her two different lives.

When she arrived back upstairs, she spent the rest of the night holed up in her room, delving deeper and deeper into the journal she had begun to keep on the connections between her old and current worlds, which was already halfway full with notes on various matters. As usual, she found herself sucked into the black hole that was the chasm between the worlds, and before she knew it, darkness had settled outside and across the complex as she finally forced herself to go to bed, despite the number of unanswered questions that continued to bounce around her brain.

Despite the fact that she had resolved a lot of the tension that had been bothering her the night before and keeping her from the sleep she so desperately needed, Evaline still had an immensely difficult time going to sleep that night. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that she still wasn't comfortable in the bed that was supposed to be her own, or because of her unfinished journal on the desk, but she kept visualizing the one spot where she had successfully gotten it to all calm down at least once before: the lake in the forest.

She made the trek out to the lake, about three miles away from the complex, taking a seat on the same boulder overlooking the body of water that seemed to be the only thing capable of effectively calming her down. Watching the ebb and flow of the water moving to and away from the shoreline, she found herself finally inching closer to sleep as her thoughts emptied and she allowed the cool breeze of the water to embrace her.

She heard a rustle coming from the bushes behind her, and without turning, she asked, "Creeping again, Sam?"

When there wasn't an answer of any kind to her statement, she turned curiously and saw that nothing was standing at the forest's edge. Just as she turned back to the lake, however, she heard another source of movement in the forest.

Shivering, she wrapped her blanket tighter around her body and started to make her way back through the forest, headed back to the complex at a much quicker pace than she had used to come out before. She kept hearing the leaves and branches of the trees move, and she knew she probably looked paranoid as she kept throwing furtive glances around the forest, unable to see anything other than the row of trees closest to her.

She knew she was only about a tenth of a mile away from clearing the forest when she heard something mechanical click to the right of her, just beyond the first line of trees. As she turned toward the source, she felt something pinch her skin, and looked down to see a piece of metal on her stomach, just above her right hip, glinting in the moonlight before she felt waves of electricity rock her body and bring her down to the floor. It wasn't enough to render her unconscious, so she saw the familiar male figure with the same baseball cap leaning over her even in the darkness of the forest, and this time, she saw his bright, sinister smile piercing through that darkness.

Her body didn't respond to the commands her brain was so desperately sending, and she felt hysteria beginning to build up in her as her mind flashed between this moment and the last one she had remembered before entering her coma. She couldn't help but wonder, and panic, at the thought of slipping into another coma, especially as the man grabbed her around the neck and teased out a vein on the opposite side than before.

"Now that we're alone," he said in his same ashy voice, "perhaps we can finish what we started."

As the needle slipped into her neck, Evaline was unsure if it was the panic or the concoction he pushed into her system that made her return to the blackness of unconsciousness once more.


	8. Chapter 8

When Evaline awoke, she was lying on the cold, hard ground of the forest, her entire body screaming out in protest although most of the pain was located in her neck. Instinctively, she reached toward the area and gently pressed her fingertip to where the needle had slipped into her vein, but she felt no sort of mark or scar on her skin. As her hands touched her neck, however, she noticed they were wet; as she pulled them away, she saw they were coated with some sort of dark liquid.

Only when she moved into the moonlight did she realize her hands were covered with someone else's blood.

She swallowed down the scream that threatened to project out of her mouth, instead just staring wide-eyed at her hands and trying, desperately, to conjure any memory she could of what had happened after the latest attack, or at least any idea of what the man's face had looked like underneath the brim of his baseball cap. Her chest continued to tighten with anxiety as she realized that once again, her mind was full of a solid block of blankness like the last time the mysterious man had attacked her, and that she, once again, had no answers as to what had happened to her.

The world had been absolutely silent as she had woken up, which she attributed more to the shock of the situation than anything else. As she began to gather as much of her bearings as she could, she started to hear voices filtering in from the environment around her, echoing between the trees.

"Eva?!"

"Evaline! Call out or something, we're worried!"

"Kaeser, where you at?!"

She tried to call out, but for some reason, the wiring between her brain and her mouth seemed to be shorting out. Hysteria began to continue to rise up in her, swelling in her chest, especially as there was a flurry of activity immediately to her left.

She startled and even yelped as Steve came pushing through a rather dense set of trees at the edge of the forest.

He seemed just as surprised to see her, especially as his blue eyes locked in on her reddened hands. She could only look at him desolately, her eyes wide as she held out her hands in front of her like an offering. Her voice shook as she nearly whispered, "Steve, I don't know what happened, or how…"

"Sh," he said quickly, moving to her as he tore off his jacket he had been wearing to wipe off her hands. "You're safe now, okay?"

She allowed for herself to be scooped up by him into his body, which was radiating heat and slightly damp, no doubt from the sweat the stress and exertion of the hunt for Evaline. Still, she found herself pushing closer to him, her mouth and lungs opening up as the sobs she had been holding back came rolling out. As she nearly hyperventilated between each cry, she inhaled Steve's natural scent and found that it, along with his hands brushing against her hair and back, were helping immensely in calming her down.

There was another movement in the bushes, and Evaline yelped as Steve tightened one arm around her and loosened the other to protect them. The gesture was not needed; although Evaline couldn't see whoever had emerged from the forest, she heard Natasha say, "Oh, thank God."

"C everyone else off and tell them to meet us in the lab," Steve commanded, standing from the ground and gently lifting Evaline with him. Somehow, her legs managed to support the rest of her body, but she was still incredibly weak from shock as she allowed for her body to rest heavily against the side of Steve's. He kept his arms tightly around her, and Natasha stepped forward to help, taking up the same position on Evaline's other side as the two of them helped lead her through the forest and back into the complex, all the way down to the basement lab Evaline had been in just the day before.

She barely even realized that the night had melted away into morning around her as they walked the distance to the complex.

When they arrived in the lab itself, she saw a small army awaiting them. She guessed Natasha and Steve had given everyone assembled a look to not ask questions, because everyone remained silent as they guided Evaline into a chair she essentially fell into. Just as she did so, a side door opened to reveal Tony stepping out of one of his suits as he gave Evaline a quick once-over, before joining the protective detail at her back soundlessly, his hand reaching out to grip tightly to Evaline's shoulder.

Bruce stepped forward, wearing latex gloves on either hand as he broke the silence and gently asked Evaline, "Are you hurt anywhere?"

She shook her head, unable to verbally confirm or deny as she felt her vocal cords freezing in her throat. Bruce's eyes flickered up to hers for a moment before he whispered an apology, then reached out to take her bloodied hands in his gloved ones. Using a cotton swab, he gathered a sample of whoever's blood was on her hands before stashing it away in a glass vial that he added to the other piles of evidence collecting on the table behind him. Natasha, Steve, and Tony still watched the entire process like the bodyguards they were, as if they were expecting Bruce to do something cruel to her.

As he turned to run whatever tests he could on the sample, Tony's voice called out angrily from behind Evaline, "What now?"

She lifted her head to see Fury step out of the shadows to join the crowd of people in the lab, and saw that all eyes in the room were diverted toward him for further instruction. There was no emotion on his face as he eyed Evaline, then told Tony, "I've got agents scouring the forest and looking for any clues, and ramping up security. Banner will run the blood and see if it's in the system anywhere, although I doubt it will be."

"She's obviously not safe here anymore," Tony said, throwing an accusatory look at Fury, who remained stoic and unflappable, even with the amount of anger lighting up Tony's eyes. "I told you from the beginning that she should've been staying at the Tower."

Strange raised a hand, saying, "A fair reminder that the Tower is not equipped with the medical necessities for her recovery, and…"

Tony interrupted, glaring at the doctor and nearly growling as he told him, "Give me a grocery list then, Strange. I'll equip the Tower for whatever sick experiments you want to run on her next if that's what gets her to a safe location, at least."

"Okay, you two," Wanda said, stepping in as a referee before Strange could make some snide comment back to Stark about his so-called experiments. Despite the fact that she stood nearly a head shorter and a decade younger than the two geniuses, Wanda glared at both of them with so much power in her eyes that both men stood down, especially as she said, "You two bickering isn't going to resolve anything. But I agree with Tony; I think the Tower is our best option right now."

Natasha cut in, saying, "It _is_ more easy to defend and protect than the complex. And Strange, you really don't need that complex of medical things anymore, right? She's pretty much physically stable."

Strange looked like he was going to argue, but Christine answered for him, "Evaline might benefit more readily from being in the Tower, since that's really home for her."

Clearing his throat, Sam looked slightly annoyed as he suggested, "How about we let Evaline decide?"

All eyes whirled around toward Evaline, who had been watching all of the conversations with very little interest, instead still staring at her reddened hands. She saw Tony's expression soften from annoyance into concern, which matched Steve, Christine, and Wanda's gazes nearly perfectly. Natasha, Fury, and Strange kept their faces neutral, while Sam was the only one who looked at Evaline like she wasn't broken.

She cleared her throat and said quietly, "Whatever you all think is best. You know the advantages and disadvantages better than me."

Strange opened his mouth again as if to advocate for her staying at the complex once more, but Tony cut in before he had a chance to, saying, "Great. I'll have some of the agents pack up our stuff and we'll head to the Tower right away."

True to his word, Tony barely waited another minute before firing up a Quinjet that would take them all back to the Tower, waiting only for everyone to grab a single go bag from their rooms before making their move. Sam, Steve, and Wanda did their best to reassure Evaline on the flight over that she would be more comfortable and more safe at the Tower, with their residencies at the top of Stark's business that thrived with high-level security.

When they arrived at the Tower in the afternoon, Tony gave Evaline a very unofficial tour of the premises, Steve and Natasha remaining close by for the entirety of the tour while everyone else moved to their rooms to get settled. Although Evaline tried to stay interested in what Tony was saying about the Artifical intelligence that staffed the tour, or the gym and always perfectly stocked kitchen both available 24/7, or the fact that Evaline would never be allowed to venture out without a small personal army accompanying her, her mind was somewhere else, and Steve finally recognized that fact, suggesting, "Ev, why don't I show you to your room?"

Tony took the hint, and said, "Yeah, I've got some business to take care of myself, and I'm sure Romanov's got some knives to sharpen or targets to demolish."

Smirking at Tony, Natasha said faux sweetly, "Oh, how'd you know, Tony?"

Still, it was enough of a message from Steve that Natasha and Tony peeled off to do their own activities, allowing for Steve alone to usher Evaline back to her room, which was down yet another hallway marked with other doors. It felt similar to a college dormitory, especially as she eyed the decorations people left on their doors: Sam had an Air Force pendant and some pictures of old Motown singers plastered on his; Wanda had a large, beautiful picture of Sokovia nearly covering hers.

When they stepped in front of her door, she saw hers was splattered with old Polaroid pictures of all of the Avengers in various joking positions: Tony giving Natasha bunny ears, despite her serious expression; Strange kissing an elated Christine on the cheek and nearly choking her as he did so; Vision looking miserable in some sort of sports jersey; and others. She was surprised to see a few other people who hadn't been introduced to her yet featured as well: Peter Parker, sans Spidey suit, hanging from the ceiling in his trademark pose; the god Thor wearing a curly black wig with a lipstick mark on his left cheek and his eyes a little unfocused; and Clint Barton marking a target with a rubber and plastic bow and arrow, with war paint on his cheeks.

Using a key he seemed to have recovered from nowhere, Steve unlocked the door and opened it to reveal her suite. There was a small bathroom to her immediate left, but otherwise the room that opened up was quite spacious. She had a queen sized bed, a large keyboard piano, three bookcases stuffed with books, a dresser, a desk, and more all stuffed between the four walls. Pictures, Polaroids and not, were scattered all around the room, as were old mementos of movie tickets, plane tickets, receipts, and the like.

Steve waited respectfully in the doorway of her room, leaning against the door jamb as her watched her circle around the space tentatively, grazing her fingertips over the tops of books, picture frames, and personal mementos she had no actual recollection of. She did so entirely in silence, lost in her own mind for so long that Steve finally asked tentatively, "Do you need anything, or… ?"

"I think I'm just going to go to sleep," she lied, keeping her gaze away from him. "Long day, and all that."

Her eyes were locked on a picture frame of her family, nearly the different than the one she remembered from her life before. Still, she heard Steve shuffle in the doorway for a moment before he said, "Okay, my room is just next door to yours. If you do anything, any time of the night, feel free to come over and knock. Wanda's on your other side and I'm sure she wouldn't mind either, if you… if you don't want me."

She finally lifted her gaze from the picture frame and gave him what even she knew was a weak attempt at a smile as she said, "Okay. Thanks, Steve."

He hesitated for a moment longer in the doorway, their eyes locked as he seemed to wrestle with some internal thought, some internal war. Finally, he settled on saying nothing at all as he quietly said, "Good night."

Evaline waited until she heard the click of his door in the room next door before trying to climb into bed, turning the lights off with a simple verbal command that Stark's Artificial Intelligence recognized without an issue. She hadn't lied to Steve necessarily; she did want to get some rest after the long and stressful day she had just endured. But the fact was, sleep wasn't readily available for her.

She tried to sleep for several hours, but her mind and heart refused to stop racing. Finally, she gave up the attempt around midnight and went on a small tour of the Tower, eerily quiet at night especially considering how many people were actually in the building and the fact that it was in the middle of New York City. She found herself drawn to the wall-to-wall windows looking down over the city, and she spent a good amount of time simply standing at the window and looking down at all the people's lives moving past her at her feet.

After several moments of considering life from her vantage point, Evaline moved to the communal kitchen and grabbed herself a glass of water before heading back to her bedroom. Despite the fact that she shared a hallway with various other members of the Avengers team, she left the door leading out from her bedroom wide open, disliking how the room felt like a cage when she closed it. Still, she tried to be mindful of how much noise she was making, carefully collecting her journal and tablet on the desk and turning on a light with care to not allow the sounds to echo out into the hallway.

She was in the middle of a particularly complex set of searches surrounding WWII conspiracies when she heard a voice at the door call out, "What are you still doing up?"

Evaline whirled around at the noise and saw Steve in her doorway, his blonde hair stuck up on one side and his eyes still half shut. As he lifted his arms to rub them open, she spotted his biceps peeking through the sleeves of his T-shirt that seemed to be one size too small. Despite the fact that he looked exhausted, he didn't seem annoyed with Evaline; he seemed genuinely curious as to the answer for his question.

Her eyes flickering down to the journal beneath her, Evaline found the words flowing easily as she said, "It took me a while to adjust to my bed at the complex, but it was somehow easier because it was more… clinical. Just a nondescript bunk in a room with a closet of clothes that fit me eerily well. But this…. When I'm trying to fall asleep, I keep catching the eyes of the people in the pictures, of this version of me in the pictures. I look at these mementos and movie tickets and what have you that she – that I – have around the room, and it's all foreign to me. And my mind just starts going in circles from there and can't stop. So, I need to write it all down, and figure out what's real, what's not real, and what I'm missing."

Steve hesitated for a moment before walking up behind her, spotting the list over her shoulder and asking, " _Hamilton_? What's that?"

"It's a musical. I love Broadway music," Evaline said quietly, giving a small smile at Steve's confused expression. "It exists in this world, you just live under a rock, apparently."

Steve in-toned with a crooked smile, "Well, I did live under a glacier for over seven decades. Does that count?"

"Hm, I think I'll allow it," Evaline said, mindlessly flipping through all of the other pages, her curiosity piquing at the mention of his own extended loss of consciousness. "Speaking of, if you don't mind me asking… how did you keep up with all the new memories and things you had to learn?"

Steve hesitated for a second, before pulling a small journal out of the pocket of his sweatshirt and placing it gently next to Evaline's on top of the desk. Although his was far more worn, and seemed near to burst with the amount of folded pages within its binding, the journals were nearly identical.

"You did the same thing," Evaline said in surprise, flipping through the heavily marked pages of Steve's own journal and running her fingers along the gouges of his handwriting. She spied many things that she herself had questioned, varying from a basic run-down of America's wars to the tale of Michael Jackson's death, and found herself smiling as she saw that their minds seemed to travel a similar wavelength.

She was still grinning as she read some of the more random topics, such as 'Miley Cyrus – bear costume?'. "How did you even come up with these?"

Steve's cheeks reddened as he shrugged. "Just references people have made in conversations and such. Usually I focus on ones made over and over again, to the point where I'm just too damn curious not to look it up."

Her eye snagging on another obsolete reference, she let a peal of laughter out as she questioned, "I see you still haven't experienced the joy of 'Tom Cruise jumping on a couch'."

Groaning, Steve rolled his eyes, although he didn't lose his smile. "Tony referenced this so much, I wasn't the one only one who wanted to strangle him. But I also didn't want to watch the clip until I saw one of Tom Cruise's actual movies."

"You've never seen any of the Mission Impossibles? _Jerry Maguire_? _Risky Business_?" Steve kept smiling helplessly, and Evaline gasped. "Are you telling me that you, Captain America, have never seen _Top Gun_?"

Steve laughed easily, openly. "You're not the first person I've ever met to be startled by that."

"Startled?! That's a pretty light term for what I am, which is horrified!" Evaline shouted, making Steve's grin grow wider and wider by the second. "I may not have all my memories intact, but if memory serves, _Top Gun_ is one of the most patriotic films in American film. The fact that you, as one of the country's biggest… symbols, or what have you, have not seen it honestly makes my stomach turn. We need to find this movie as soon as possible and get you to watch it."

"Well," Steve said slowly, his cheeks reddening just a bit as he lowered his gaze politely, "the movie theater in the Tower has what Tony claims to be one of the most wide array of movies ever collected. If you're feeling truly insomniatic like I am, do you want to go down and check it out to see if it's there?"

Evaline couldn't deny the fact that her heart raced in her chest at the suggestion of spending some alone time with Steve in a dark and cozy miniature theater, especially when she saw the open-eyed vulnerable look that he was giving her, obviously internally preparing for her rejection.

She surprised them both when she said, "Lead the way."

It took the Captain a few moments to respond, allowing his eyes to widen just a bit at the obvious surprise he felt in regards to Evaline accepting his invitation. Still, as the words registered, he was able to get his body up from where he had been sitting on her bed, and she followed suit, walking with him down to the home theater.

Despite the fact that she was the one who had just come out of a coma and was missing a good chunk of her memories, it was Evaline who had to set up the movie after Steve's multiple failed attempts to do so. The technology was slightly more complex than what Evaline had been used to – which she bet anything Tony was to blame for – but that still didn't change the fact that Steve's technological knowledge more closely matched his real age rather than the age that he looked.

They watched a good portion of the movie in silence, the two of them posed on opposite ends of the same couch. Every few minutes, Evaline shot a look over to Steve, trying to discern if the soldier was enjoying the movie as much as she claimed he would. As the movie progressed, both of them seemed to relax, growing more comfortable with their positions on the couch. While Evaline found herself relaxing into the cushions behind her instead of sitting ramrod straight like she had been, Steve stretched out his arms on the back of the couch. Even though there was still about a foot of space between them, Steve's arm on the back of the couch behind Evaline made her feel like she was a lot closer to him, and she felt her body gradually leaning toward his like a magnet.

Halfway through the movie, Evaline subtly shifted so her legs were curled up next to her, and her hip moved half the distance closer to Steve's. She noticed his eyes flicker over to her quickly and the corner of his mouth quirk up as he let his hand drop off the back of the couch, so now it could be argued that his arm was around her. Every few minutes, she even went so far as to physically move her body closer and closer to his, so that by the time _Top Gun_ ended and the first _Mission Impossible_ queued up, her hip was only about seven inches away from Steve's, and his hand gently grazed her shoulders.

Gradually, Evaline felt the lull of the dark, cold theater and her exhaustion from the long day hitting her as she began closing her eyes, trying carefully to aim her body away from Steve's. Somehow, she fell fully asleep during the middle of the first _Mission Impossible_ , and woke to feel herself being carried to her bedroom. She thought of waking up fully and telling Steve to put her down, but then decided against it as she curled up closer to the Captain's chest.

She felt him put her blankets over her, pulling them up at the end so her bare feet stuck out like she liked them to. A few moments passed, and then she felt him gently brush back her hair out of her face and whisper, "Goodnight, Eva."

When she felt him turn away from her, she allowed her eyes to open up just a crack as she watched him walk out the door, hesitating in the doorway. He halfway turned back toward her, and she caught his facial expression fully as it was illuminated by the slice of moonlight edging in above her window: pain, heartbreak, love, and relief all mixed so virulently that it made Evaline's chest tighten, especially as she recognized it wasn't the first time he had looked at her like that.

She almost opened her eyes entirely. She almost opened her mouth to ask him why he looked at her like that, to ask him to stay. She almost opened her heart to him, but instead she remained closed off as he stepped out of the room and gently closed the door between them, leaving Evaline alone in the darkness as she finally fell soundly asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

When Evaline awoke in the morning, she felt fully rested for the first time since waking up in her alternate reality.

She even debated simply falling back asleep instead of getting up and starting her day, but ultimately decided against it, as for once she felt like she could actually face what was ahead of her - after a cup of coffee and some breakfast, of course.

When she stepped into the kitchen, she saw that Natasha, Sam, and Wanda were at one of the nooks' tables, all of them nursing large cups of coffee while Tony cooked something at the stove that, from the sheer amount of food laid out on the kitchen island, looked like it was meant to feed every member of their team. Additionally, whatever it was smelled delicious, with the scent of perfectly sauteed mushrooms and bell peppers and onions greeting Evaline as she walked in.

"Morning," Evaline said brightly, with a wide smile to match as she strode to the kitchen, earning slightly surprised looks from the other four members of the team in the room.

Natasha, who looked only half awake, raised her eyebrows above the mug she was sipping out of, before commenting suspiciously, "Well, you seem well rested."

"For the first time, I am," Evaline said easily, moving toward the main part of the kitchen as she grabbed a mug from one of the twenty hung on the walls, filling it with the coconut coffee that Vision drank like water. As she danced around Tony, who she saw now was cooking omelettes, she grabbed a bottle of caramel sweetener from the fridge despite the tape on the side that said 'Sam' and the glare she got from him in turn, and poured a hearty amount into her mug as she watched it turn to the color of caramel itself.

"Well, I'm glad someone got some sleep," Tony said in accusation, earning a curious look from Evaline. Putting down the spatula he had been wielding, he tapped his fingers across the island's countertop, before a holographic screen popped up in midair and revealed a clip of security camera footage. Before it started playing, Tony threw Evaline a playful glare as he said, "I increased Friday's security parameters, and she woke me up because she thought either you were sneaking out or someone was taking you. She wasn't wrong, but she wasn't right either, was she?"

Evaline felt her face begin to warm as Natasha, Sam, and Wanda all jumped up from the nook's booth and pushed in to see the security camera footage, which revealed Steve and Evaline getting cozy on the couch together as they watched the movie. The clip played in fast forward, showing Evaline subliminally moving closer and closer to Steve, until Evaline in real time slammed her hand on the counter as the holographic screen collapsed, earning a groan from all around them. Beside her, Tony looked annoyed that his fun had been ruined.

"What?!" Sam demanded loudly, voicing all of their thoughts. "That's it?! Eva, come on!"

"Nothing happened," she insisted, swiping one of the omelettes from the pile Tony had been making and taking a large bite out of it, washing it down with her coffee concoction. Sam, Tony, Natasha, and Wanda all gave her disbelieving looks, and she asked through a full mouth, "What?"

"The fact that you were so quick to turn off the screen suggests to me that something _did_ happen," Tony said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion but obvious enjoyment creeping onto his face as he needled Evaline. "You're talking to spies, geniuses, and telepaths. You might be able to pull one on Sam, but the other three of us…"

Sam nearly choked on his own coffee he had been sipping as he demanded, "Hey!"

"... but the other three of us," Tony continued, throwing an annoyed and pointed look Sam's way, "are smarter than to believe that. Fess up."

Instead of rising to Tony's demands, Evaline finished off her omelette and coffee, feeling the rush of food settling in her stomach like a rock as she said, "There's nothing to fess up to. Now, if you excuse me, I think I have some training to do."

"That you do," Natasha said helpfully, finishing up her own coffee as she threw a look at Wanda, who did the same before both of them headed toward the elevator, followed closely by Evaline. When Sam tried to do the same, Natasha whirled on him, putting a hand against his shoulder as she said, "Uh-uh. Girls' club only today, Sammy. Sorry."

Sam looked like he was going to argue, but he seemed to recognize the amount of resistance he'd meet if he tried to go up against the three women. He backed off, even raising his hands in the air defensively, as he said, "Okay, okay. I know when I'm not wanted."

"Yeah," Natasha said flatly, stepping into the open elevator with Wanda and Evaline flanking her as she met Sam's eyes dead-on. "Because we just told you. Bye, boys."

As soon as the elevator doors closed and it began lowering itself to the basement where the gym for the Tower was housed, Natasha broke the silence as she demanded, "So?"

"So, what?" Evaline asked, playing dumb as she earned a roll of the eyes from Natasha and an exhausted groan from Wanda.

"So… what's happening with you and Steve?!" Wanda demanded, high-pitched and wide-eyed. Evaline sighed, and Wanda rested a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently as she said, "Eva. We are your girls, your friends. The stuff you hide from Sam and Tony is the stuff you tell us. So... tell us!"

Looking at Natasha and Wanda, Evaline realized how badly she did want to tell them about whatever had happened with Steve, if not to mostly get a second opinion about what it all meant. So she sighed, shifting her weight in the elevator as she kept her eyes raised toward the top of the elevator, sure if she looked right at them as she spoke that she would chicken out.

"All I know," Evaline said, feeling the blush creeping up from her neck to her ears again, "is that after last night, falling asleep next to Steve… that was the first good night's worth of sleep I've gotten since I woke up in this world."

Wanda and Natasha remained silent for a moment before the former squealed and threw her arms around Evaline's neck, crying out, "You love him, you love him!"

As Evaline gently disentangled herself from Wanda, she caught Natasha's small smile but also the roll of her eyes once more. Evaline cleared her throat and said, "I don't love him. I barely even know him. But there's definitely… something there. I don't know if it's just residual from whatever was between us before, or if there is actually something tangible there, but…"

"There's something tangible there," Natasha assured her, giving her an amused smile. "I know you feel like you don't know him, or whatever, but we all can see the bond between you two. I also know you've got a lot going on right now, but I think maybe exploring… whatever you have with Steve might be beneficial to you in the end."

Evaline gave Natasha a thoughtful look before the elevator doors opened, revealing the basement, where Tony kept all of their gym and training tools housed since there had been more than a few incidents involving hulked-out Bruce or a misused Mjolnir. The training center took up the entire basement, but was sectioned off into two gyms, two training simulation rooms, locker rooms for both genders, a swim area, and a sauna.

As they stepped out of the elevator, Natasha started walking backward toward the locker rooms, swinging her pylene black water bottle by her side as she said, "Wanda and I are going to go fill our water bottles. For now, we'll stop the whole 'loving Steve' talk. Go ahead and start stretching. Neither of us is going to be pulling any punches with you today."

Wanda looked like she she wanted to refute that statement, but Natasha gave her one look that they all knew meant that the promise wasn't up for discussion. Instead, the witch gave Evaline an encouraging smile and said, "We'll be back", before turning away with Natasha to move toward the locker rooms and the fountains of water, sports drinks, protein shakes, and the like that were hidden within.

Evaline turned and headed into the gym by herself, but quickly realized as she heard grunting and the dull smacks of boxing gloves that she wasn't actually alone. She traversed further into the gym, headed to the boxing corner housed in the back right section of the room, and finally saw who her companion was.

A shirtless and glistening Steve circled around the bubba he had been relentlessly pummeling moments before, and he stopped in his tracks, both of them startled to see each other before Steve finally broke the silence by saying, "Hey. Good morning."

"Good morning," she said, trying her best not to stare at his bare stomach or chest, but failing to stay strong even as her eyes locked with his. She cleared her throat and finally lowered her gaze, busying herself by turning around and pretending to retie her shoes on the edge of a bench as she called out over her shoulder, "Sorry I fell asleep on you last night."

Internally, she cringed at the wording of the sentence, a reminder that she had gotten that comfortable with a virtual stranger. She felt Steve's heavy gaze on her back, but she remained resolutely turned around and focused on her shoes, so she didn't see his face as he said, "It's okay. Did you… did you sleep well the rest of the night?"

"For the first time in a while, I did," she admitted, keeping her back turned still as she let the statement hang in the air for a few moments, allowing for Steve to overanalyze it. Finally, she turned and walked past him to the weights in the corner, trying to be a little less awkward as she asked, "How'd you like the movies?"

Steve shrugged, halfway grimacing and halfway smiling apologetically as he said honestly, " _Top Gun_ was great, but _Mission_ _Impossible_ was just alright."

Stopping in her tracks, Evaline whirled around and stared at him as she demanded, "Just alright?! _Mission Impossible_ is a classic!"

Steve's apologetic smile morphing into an amused one as he tipped his head to one side as he said, "Well, I didn't finish the entire movie considering I was a little busy trying to keep someone from simply just sliding off the couch."

"Um, excuse me," Evaline said, gaping at him and his audacity as he continued to grin wildly, his joy contagious although she tried to maintain an annoyed look. "I do not just become a limp noodle when I sleep, I doubt I was in any danger of just sliding off the couch."

Steve maintained his joyous expression as he shook his head, droplets of sweat flinging from his chin to the floor as he said, "Oh, no. You sleep like the dead, lack of muscle tone included. Although, you also drool, and I'm not sure the dead do that."

Evaline scoffed, mock offended as she put a hand over her chest like the words had mortally wounded her, stepping closer to him so she only stood a single foot away from him as she claimed, "I do not!"

Someone cleared their throat at the door to the gym, and both of them turned toward the source to see Wanda and Natasha looking at them. The former looked embarrassed, and Evaline bet anything she was the one who had cleared her throat to announce their arrival; meanwhile, Natasha's smirk was wide, unabashed, as she asked, "You all get your workout in already… together?"

Despite the fact that Evaline was surrounded by superheroes at the complex, she never found herself wishing for the supernatural powers they all seemed to possess - until this moment, where she would have done anything to have been able to shoot lasers out of her eyes at the Russian assassin. The comment had enough implication to make Evaline's spine tighten and Steve's face get redder despite his lack of continued physical exertion.

Instead, Evaline cut back verbally by saying, "Unless I burned calories waiting for your lazy asses to get down here, no."

Natasha's eyebrows shot up in surprise as Wanda laughed at her expense and at Evaline's sass. As she turned, she caught Steve's approving smile as well as he reached down to grab a shirt he had lying on a nearby bench, tugging it on and almost instantly staining the heather grey material with his sweat.

"I'll let you ladies get to it," Steve said, taking a swig of his water bottle as he went to exit the gym.

Feeling slightly fortified from her successful encounter with Natasha, Evaline called out, "What, you don't want to watch?"

The super soldier froze, and Natasha's resounding grin almost broke skin as she noted the surprise and discomfort Steve was in. When he turned, he said carefully, "I thought you didn't want me involved in your training."

Belatedly, Evaline realized he was right, and she didn't really have an appropriate comeback for his comment. Instead, Wanda stepped forward, wearing a beatific smile as she said, "Well, maybe we can hold off on the training for a while and try something fun for once. Hey, Friday?"

The AI that made the whole Tower run properly called out over the PA system, "Yes, Ms. Maximoff?"

Wanda's voice echoed around the spacious gym as she called out, "Page Tony, Bruce, and Sam and tell them to come down to the gym for some Capture the Flag."

"Capture the Flag?" Evaline asked, raising both of her eyebrows as Friday acquiesced and did as Wanda had asked. "Like the schoolyard game?"

"The one in the same," Wanda said with a wide, unadulterated grin. "We're big fans of it here. We all power down, as much as we can, and just go for it. It's nice because the game kind of allows anyone at any level of ability to win it all."

As Natasha and Steve moved to begin setting up the room with the flags on either side, the the elevator doors opened, revealing Tony, Bruce, Sam, and a fourth male figure that it took Evaline a few moments to place before Tony started talking.

"I figured the teams would be uneven since Vision is off with Strange doing whatever weirdness they do, so I brought Happy," Tony said, gesturing to his so-called bodyguard, who looked the most excited and serious out all of them. He was wearing a sweatband around his forehead and two at his wrists, and his tube socks went up to his mid-calves, but he had a mean mug on that made Evaline question his motives in playing.

As they moved into their teams, decided by Sam and Tony for fairness, Steve, Tony, Natasha, and Happy moved to one side, and Wanda, Bruce, Evaline, and Sam moved to the other. Steve looked slightly perturbed that he had been separated from Evaline, but she was thankful for it; she wanted to focus on something else besides him for the moment, as her confidence from their earlier encounter was slowly fading by this point.

As they each huddled on their separate sides of the court, Sam brought them all in tightly, saying, "Okay, Evaline is our best weapon."

"What?" she asked in surprise, looking at him in wonder. "How do you figure?"

"Because Steve is theirs, and your his biggest weakness," Sam said, no longer footing carefully around the fact that Steve and Evaline had shared something before her coma. Wanda threw Sam a quick, watered down version of a glare that he ignored before plowing forward, saying, "We can use you as a distraction, and then handle the rest."

Bruce raised his hand tentatively, saying, "I'd think we'd be remiss to count out Natasha."

"I agree," Sam said, bobbing his head, "and that's the next target in my multi-factor plan."

Bruce and Wanda groaned, earning an angry look from Sam and a confused look from Evaline. By way of explanation, Wanda offered, "Sam always comes up with these grandiose plans that usually either backfire or end up with some consequence he failed to conjure up, like one of us getting injured or whatever."

Under his breath, Bruce commented, "Yeah, and it's usually me."

Sam ignored Bruce's comment, and went on to lay out his complicated plan of diversions building to everyone's strengths: Evaline would be sent over to distract Steve any way she could, while Bruce and Wanda would make a play for the flag since Sam knew the other team would be expecting him as the soldier to do it. Sam would either play defense on their side or act as a further distraction for the other three members of the opposite team; but he was confident that as long as Evaline kept Steve distracted, that everything else would fall into place.

As the game began, Evaline felt less than confident in the plan, but she proceeded to follow it anyway. Despite Sam's assumptions, however, Steve zeroed in on the soldier instead of Evaline, throwing everything else off for the moment. Wanda and Bruce also recognized the change of pace and set up a tentative defense around their own flag, to ensure Natasha and Happy couldn't get through. Meanwhile, Tony remained on his side of the court, his eyes on Steve and Sam.

Nobody was paying attention to Evaline.

She snuck along the side of the court, opposite of where Steve was chasing after Sam. Tony moved forward to go after Wanda, who saw what Evaline was trying to do and was now toeing the line between the two sides. Moving as fast and stealthily as she could, Evaline nearly looped around one side of the court as Wanda did the same on the opposite side, keeping Tony distracted as Evaline grabbed the flag and whipped around to return to her side.

As turned, she yelped as she saw Steve was nearly right behind her. Her forward momentum was too much as she tripped over his outstretched leg, his playful smile turning into an expression of panic as she began falling.

She felt his arms wrap quickly around her body, and then his body was coming down with hers. Her back smacked against the floor, his arm crushed beneath it to break her fall as she became pinned underneath him, their faces toward each other. Their legs were entangled, and when Steve and she both inhaled at the same time, their abdomens touched. In the lighting of the gym, Steve's blue eyes looked like crystals on his face that were locked on Evaline's.

"Hey!" Sam shouted from the other side of the court, where he had taken up the defensive position, bringing them both back into the moment. "I thought we made rules about there being no canoodling on the courts!"

Evaline rolled out from underneath Steve, feeling the blush creeping up to her ears again as she shouted definitively, "No canoodling here! Just warfare! Just come get me out of jail, jackass!"

She popped up from the floor, ignoring Steve's heavy gaze on her as she sprinted to where the other team's prison was, watching safely from there as the game continued to wage around them, noting what the other team was doing especially. Tony stayed right by their team's flag for the rest of the game, shooting Evaline a mixture of playful glares and amused glances whenever Steve was nearby or he caught them looking at each other; Natasha was losing patience as she had to keep rescuing an overzealous Happy out of jail; and Steve semed easily distracted by Evaline, a tactic her team used to their advantage.

Despite the fact that Steve was stronger and faster than anyone on the court, her team had a telepath/telekinetic, a Special Ops soldier, and a brilliant biologist who had participated in enough campaigns of D & D to understand strategy better than most, and they used the other team's weaknesses perfectly against them. Natasha was too busy trying to help Happy over and over again, and as soon as Sam successfully tagged Evaline out of jail, Steve's eyes were only on her again. Tony, being the sore loser he was, sensed his team was about to lose it for him, so his anger was already piquing when Bruce and Wanda sprung a two-man attack on his area, Wanda sprinting away with the flag to their side and winning them the game.

When walking back up to their rooms from the gym, Steve mentions he had a good time hanging out with her last night and suggests they do it again and maybe explore the outside world a little bit.

Evaline smiled, softly and genuinely, as she commented, "It's nice to have a bit of normalcy for once."

"Well, maybe we should continue that trend and break you out of here a little bit, go and explore the city," Steve said, his eyes flitting across to the glass walls that overlooked Manhattan. His voice got softer as his eyes moved back to Evaline and he explained, "You used to love just walking around aimlessly and finding all these mom and pop shops. Whenever we would have visitors, you were always the unofficial tour guide we referred them to; you knew all the best secret spots in the city."

She cringed a little internally at the use of past tense in the description, but tried to maintain an optimistic attitude as she gave him a small smile and said, "Well, that at least seems to be similar between this world and the last. I lived in Seattle, and I made it my goal to find all the best restaurants and cafes and little shops in the city."

"Seattle," Steve said, so quietly Evaline almost missed it. She gave him a curious look at his focused expression, but he just shook his head and said by way of explanation, "It's the first thing you've told me about… about that life."

Wrapping her arms around herself, Evaline commented, "Yeah, well, I figured I need to move on from it, and only leave enough room in my memory bank for what's important, for what's from this world. Which, hopefully will soon include the best local cafes in Manhattan, in this world."

Steve looked like he was going to comment about the first part of her statement, but he decided against it as he met her eyes, giving her a gentle smile as he said, "I'll see if I can conjure up a list from somewhere and take you on a city tour. I spent a lot of time when I first woke up traveling around the city, so I feel like I'd be a pretty good guide."

"Okay, you're promising me a lot here, I just hope you realize that," Evaline said, earning a laugh from Steve that made her smile as well. "Tomorrow work?"

He grinned at her, nodding his head as he said brightly, "Okay, it's a date."

Evaline gave him a quick look, and his face went into a moment of panic as he quickly added, "I mean…"

"No," she said gently, putting a hand gently on his bicep. He froze as his gaze shot down to the touch, then up to her eyes again, a question she knew he wanted desperately to ask in them.

She gave him what she hoped was a brave, steady smile as she told him, "A date would be nice."

His expression softened, his eyes becoming hooded as they looked down at her again. He opened his mouth to say something more, but Natasha called out from the door to the gym, "Hey, Kaeser! Just because Wanda came up with a fun game to play doesn't mean you get out of training entirely today! Get back here!"

Evaline sighed, giving Steve an exasperated smile as she began backing up toward Natasha, careful to watch her steps as she promised him, "Tomorrow."

Sliding his hands into the pockets of his gym shorts, Steve smiled, nodding at her as he called down the hallway, "Tomorrow!"

Turning back toward where Natasha and Wanda were waiting for her, Evaline gave them a panicked look that made their expressions turn questioning as they ushered her back into the safety of the gym, closing the door behind them just in case Steve decided to loiter out by the elevators. As soon as the doors were closed, however, the two heroines whirled around to her, Wanda demanding, "What was that about?"

Evaline felt like she was going to vomit as she said, "I have a date with Steve tomorrow."

Wanda started squealing and laughing as Natasha smirked, putting a comforting shoulder on Evaline's shoulder as she said, "I knew more went on last night than what you were letting on. But don't worry, Eva. We'll get you so ready for that date there's no way he'll be the virtuous Captain America tomorrow."

Evaline threw them both a terrified look, but she couldn't deny that with the nerves that tied around her stomach, there was also a bit of pleasure at the thought.

And she wasn't sure which scared her more.


	10. Chapter 10

Once again, Evaline had a difficult time sleeping that night, but now it was due to the nerves she felt in relation to her and Steve's impending date, as well as the terror at some of the things that Natasha had suggested Evaline do to impress Steve despite Wanda's insistence that none of that was actually required.

When she woke in the morning, the first thing she did was to take a shower to clear her mind of all the dreams she had the night before in regards to Steve and the possibilities of their date. Her hair still damp and the scent of her soap still strong, she dressed in some light workout clothes before heading to the kitchen to start her day.

She almost turned back around when she realized that Steve was in the kitchen, and nobody else was there to act as a barrier between them. Evaline couldn't help but watch, mesmerized, as the muscles in his back moved just to make a simple bowl of oatmeal.

Feeling her eyes on him, Steve turned to see who had joined him, a smile lighting up his face. "Morning, Eva."

"Morning," she said, trying to sound as bright as him as she joined him in the kitchen, reaching up to grab her own cereal as he poured her coffee into her Harvard mug. She took it from him with a smile, noting that the scent of caramel was already wafting from it, a sign that he had somewhat prepared for her arrival. Grinning knowingly, but deciding to keep this knowledge to herself, she took a sip of the coffee before asking, "Where is everyone?"

"Training exercises, the lab, work, you name it," Steve said, using one hand to carry his bowl of oatmeal to the table and using the other to wave it around aimlessly in the air. He threw Evaline a smile over his shoulder as he said, "Unless someone comes back, we're alone."

She tried to ignore the tightening of her stomach at his comment as she brought over her cereal and mug of coffee to join him at the table, taking a seat across the nook from him as she dug in. The news blared on the wall, some politics channel that Evaline distantly remembered Sam complaining about playing every morning, especially when Saturday morning cartoons were on.

As it switched from one program to another, the newscaster called out from behind their desk, "Good morning, America. The date is March 30th, and today we have a story about…"

The rest of the host's opening monologue faded into the background as Evaline stared at the screen, a spoonful of Cheerios and bananas still halfway to her mouth. It took her only a few seconds for her to place why March 30th would stick out in her mind, but she finally did as she swallowed, hard.

Her strange behavior didn't go unmissed by Steve, who was watching her carefully as he asked gently, "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing," Evaline tried to say dismissively as she went back to her cereal. Steve's curious gaze morphed into a disbelieving one, and the intensity of it assured Evaline he wasn't going to give up his line of questioning until he had an answer. She sighed, saying, "It's just… today would have been my parents' wedding anniversary on my Earth."

Steve looked speechless and distinctly uncomfortable for a second, and Evaline muttered, "He's still missing, isn't he?"

"Yes," Steve said on an exhale, relief but also an apology crossing over his face. "I'm not sure how similar the story is to what you know or remember, but your father was a Special Ops soldier all throughout Desert Storm. He worked as a military contractor but then went back into Special Ops during the war in Iraq. I think it was in 2004 that they lost contact with him and his team, and they could never regain contact."

Evaline stayed quiet for a few moments, reaching down to rub out a cramp in her calf as she felt Steve carefully watching her. Quietly, she said, "I've had a long time to deal with him being presumed dead. But is… is the rest of my family okay? I'm assuming someone would have told me if not, but…"

She trailed off, unsure of what exactly what she was trying to say. Steve smiled at her calmly and said, "The rest of them are okay. Your younger brother, Gabriel, is in the Marine Corps, and he's currently stationed over in South Korea. Your older brother, Jeremy, lives in Rhode Island with his wife and two kids, about an hour away from your mom."

"My mom," Evaline said quietly, thinking about the powerfully strong, amazingly wise, and lovingly strict woman who had raised her. She was surprised how much longing was in her heart as she tried to idealize her mother, wondering the differences between the one in this reality and the last. She repeated, "They live in Rhode Island?"

"Yeah." Steve placed a scoop of his oatmeal into his mouth and swallowed before he casually suggested, "We could go see them. Today, if you wanted."

Evaline stopped with her cereal spoon halfway to her mouth again, this time not even noticing when the milk, bananas, and soggy Cheerios dripped to the table. "What?"

"It's only about a four drive. We can take a car, or a Quinjet if you want to get there faster," Steve said, as if that was the question Evaline had been asking. She blinked heavily at him, and he watched her expression carefully for any sign of how she was going to respond to his suggestion.

After a few tense moments of her quietly trying to analyze his words, she finally spoke up, saying, "I have a lot of questions… first and foremost being, how would I be able to function around them? In case you forgot, my memory is functioning at only about 30%, and I think that's a gracious estimate."

"I'll go with you and help you out with whatever you can't remember," Steve replied calmly, nodding his head as if to reassure himself it was a good idea. "You've told me about your family, and I… I've met them before. Many times, actually."

Evaline stared at him for another few, silent moments before asking in disbelief, "I introduced you to my family? Isn't it public knowledge that you're Captain America?"

"Yes," he said slowly, lowering his gaze to his oatmeal to hide the blush creeping up his cheeks, "which was a little bit… messy when you brought me home the first time. But it's been a while, and I think they've gotten used to that. Or, at least they have the decency to pretend it doesn't matter."

"I'm assuming they don't know I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D," Evaline said slowly, earning a confirming shake of the head from Steve. "Okay, so what does my family think I do?"

"They think you're a psychologist doing research on child soldiers and guerrilla warfare in Subsaharan Africa," Steve answered so thoroughly, that Evaline's eyebrows rose in surprise. He shrugged, and said, "It took us a while to develop your backstory, let's just put it that way."

Evaline tried to focus on her next question considering the fifty that were rattling around in her brain, before she finally settled on, "So how the heck did I meet and start dating Captain America?"

"The cover story is that we met at one of the PTSD support groups Sam hosted at the VA back in D.C. a few years ago. I had met Sam beforehand, and you did some volunteer work there as a co-host of the support groups. Sam introduced us, and the rest is history," Steve said, getting up from the table as he went to go clean out his bowl of oatmeal in the sink.

Rising from the table, Evaline trailed after him into the kitchen, asking, "Okay, all of that craziness aside… I've been in a coma for five months. What the hell do they think I've been doing?"

"Doing your research in Africa, where you were unreachable except occasionally by e-mail. To my understanding, pictures were Photoshopped and sent to them, and also somehow we were able to use video editing to fake a few video messages to them as well," Steve said, shrugging again when Evaline threw him another surprised and confused look. "I left all of that stuff up to Tony and Natasha and them."

Evaline had to take several deep breaths at the discussion of faked messages, photos, and videos, and the idea of the lengths that S.H.I.E.L.D had gone to in order to basically cover up her accident from her family. She didn't even want to ask what their contingency plan was for if Evaline had actually died as a result of the incident.

"I can't just show up on their front doorstep," Evaline insisted, beginning to have more and more anxiety building up.

"I'll call Jeremy, said we wanted to surprise them," Steve said as if it was no big deal, essentially ignoring Evaline's tense feelings about the situation. He only seemed to register them as he looked up at her face and saw that her eyes were as wide as saucers, causing him to ask innocently, "What?"

"Steve," she said sharply, trying to meet his eyes and convey all the emotions she had warring on in her body. "What am I supposed to do if they're strangers to me? How do I fake that?"

He looked like he didn't have an answer for her, his lips pressed together tightly and his eyebrows furrowed together in concentration. Instead, he stepped closer to her, putting his hands over hers and squeezing them as he asked gently, "Don't you want to at least try?"

She wasn't sure how he knew that deep down, at the base of her being, she did want to try - despite the issues that could arise, or the heartbreak that could follow. So, she simply nodded, and he smiled at her, soothing her nerves at least a little bit as he said, "I'll go call Jeremy. You go pack your bags."

Evaline returned to her room and packed excessively, she knew, but she wasn't quite sure what kind of adventure she was preparing for. The only instruction she had received from Steve, after he came to tell her that Jeremy had nearly lost it with excitement at the news she was back, was to pack a bathing suit, and that was it as far as specifics.

Just as she was finishing up packing her bag and zipping it up, Steve came to her doorway and said, "Ride's here."

Nodding once, Evaline slung her duffle bag over her shoulder and dodged Steve as he tried to be a gentleman and take it from her. She clicked her tongue at him and said, "Not today, Cap. I need something to keep my mind off of what's happening right now."

They entered the elevator, riding up the two additional floors to the rooftop as Steve asked, "Aren't you even a little bit excited?"

"Excited, yes," Evaline admitted, nodding her head. "But I'm also nervous as all get out, and terrified that I'm going to make a mistake, and…"

"I promise, I've got your back, okay? " Steve said, interrupting her as the elevator doors opened and she she saw the helicopter waiting for them on the launch pad. He gave her a reassuring smile and said, "You ready?"

Evaline simply nodded, unsure if she spoke that Steve would even be able to hear her over the whirring helicopter blades, and unsure that if she spoke that she would be able to keep her hasty breakfast down. She clambered into the helicopter, tossing her duffle bag into the back storage area, as Steve exchanged some words with the pilot that were out of her earshot before joining her and helping her buckle into the complex helicopter straps and headphones.

The flight itself was only 30 minutes long, and Steve had told her that it would only be a 10 minute car ride from where they were landing to where her mother's house was. For the first 15 minutes or so, they flew over New York, and Evaline's face was practically plastered to the window of the helicopter as she watched the world fly by underneath her. For some, being that high would cause them more anxiety; for Evaline, it helped decrease it significantly.

As she finally relaxed back into her seat, Steve pulled something out of his pocket and said, "I figured I should give you an introductory course to your family, while we have the time."

She eyed the photo that was in his hand, which was a little worn and had the date 'July 2017' on the back of it. Quickly doing the math, she figured it was only a few months before her accident and her coma, and she felt her stomach tightening again as she tried to ease out of it by cracking at Steve, "You just carry around a picture of my family with you at all times? Creep."

"I stole this picture from your room for a reference," Steve said apologetically, giving her a small smile. Evaline tried to smile back, then focused in on the picture, which featured both her and Steve, as well as four other adults and two small children.

Wasting no time, Steve pointed to a dark-haired brunette man who looked the youngest out of all of the adults. He had a massive, indistinguishable tattoo on his left bicep, and his right arm was hidden as he wrapped it playfully around Steve's neck. His smile was the widest out of anybody in the picture's, and his hair the darkest.

"That's your younger brother, Gabriel. He goes by Gabe. To my knowledge, he's still over in South Korea at his posting, so he shouldn't be at the house when we get there," Steve said, a grin on his face as he seemed to remember something. "Maybe it's because he's the youngest, or the least tied down, but he's always the life of the party - much to your mother and Joanna's chagrin. He half-cusses around the kids and they adore him, so they pick up everything he says. I think he does it on purpose to make Joanna mad, and it works."

Evaline grinned, too; the Gabe in this reality sounded so much like the one she had known and loved in her last one. Thankfully, that seemed to be the case for all of the members of her family. Throughout the flight, Steve went through describing the attributes and stories of each person in the picture: sandy-haired and lean Jeremy, a Navy contract and Reservist, who had his arm tightly around the waist of his toe-headed professor wife, Joanna; Henry, their son, who was obsessed with any occupation that wore a uniform and had a deep obsession with Iron Man that obviously needled Steve; Daria, their daughter, who was in her peak princess stage spare her love for the Hulk; and Genevieve, the matron of the Kaeser family, who stood in the middle of all of them in the picture and beamed beatifically.

He finished up the report on her family but saying quietly, but reverently, "They're all great, and they all love you a lot."

She didn't miss the wistful tone in his voice, and she realized belatedly that Steve himself had been without a proper family for nearly eighty years now. As she noted the bittersweet smile that crossed his face, she reached out and took her hand in his, surprising him, especially as she laced their fingers and gave him a gently squeeze and a soft smile. "I can tell you care for them a lot, too."

Steve's face and posture softened as he admitted, "I do. Over the last few years, we've all spent a lot of time together. If you feel like, at any point of the night, you're getting in over your head, or whatever, know you can tag me. I know a lot about them if you forget something, and I'm also really good at getting us out of tough spots if you want to leave, or…"

Squeezing his hand again, she smiled gratefully at him as she said, "Thanks for having my back, but hopefully, I won't need it."

He smiled back at her, just as the agent in the front of the helicopter announced they had arrived at their location. Grabbing their respective duffle bags, they clambered out of the helicopter and onto the launch pad, taking the elevator down to the base level where a car was waiting for them. Evaline had almost gotten used to basically having a chauffeur everywhere she went, so she was surprised when Steve got into the driver's seat instead.

He peeked out the passenger side window at her, rolling it down as he asked with a small smile, "You coming?"

She got in at his request, buckling up as Steve began driving to her mother's house - without even using a GPS, Evaline noted belatedly. Distantly, she wondered just how many times they had made this drive together, and under what circumstances.

They passed a rather patriotic-themed sign that said 'Entering Newport, Rhode Island', words that seemed to strike Evaline in the chest like a physical blow. Bits and pieces of whatever her life had been before came back to her: fishing at Gurney's, Fourth of July barbecues, wearing summer dresses and flirting with Navy men, building a small snowman in the front yard one year they had a particularly brisk winter.

Most importantly, she remembered who she had shared those memories with: her two brothers, her mother, and, for most of her childhood but very few years of her teenage era, her father. She was surprised to feel the pain of his loss all over again, although he had gone missing on a Special Ops mission in her last reality as well. She was grateful Steve was driving and that his eyes were focused on the road, because it gave her an opportunity to stare out the window and get a hold of herself, all while studying her hometown before they arrived at her mother's place.

When they did arrive at the house, Evaline couldn't help but gawk a little bit at the gorgeous white and blue bungalow that stretched out in front of them. The sight of the expansive bright green yard and well-kept garden in the front strewn with a few toys, as well as the blue, pristine water ebbing and flowing from the shore Evaline could see behind the house, struck her heart the first moment her eyes saw it.

They both got out of the car, Steve scowling as Evaline exited quicker than he could move around the car to open the door for her, and began walking up the front sidewalk together. Evaline reached down and tentatively wrapped her hand around Steve's, earning a slightly surprised look from him as she said with a nervous smile, "You're still my boyfriend for all they know. Got to play the part, right?"

A flash of disappointment crossed over Steve's face, but he tried to cover it up with an encouraging smile as he squeezed Evaline's hand. "Right. We've got this, Ev."

The front door the house opened, at first revealing no one until two little human bullets shot out of the front door and down the drive.

"Auntie Eva! Uncle Steve!" the kids shouted as they sprinted down the sidewalk toward them. It took Evaline a moment to adjust, but she followed suit as Steve leant down to scoop up Henry, while she squat down on the sidewalk and prepared for impact as Daria barreled into her arms.

As she stood with the four year old safely in her embrace, and Daria's chubby little arms in a death lock around her neck, she spotted two adults standing at the door: Jeremy and Joanna. They grinned widely, their teeth matching the white shutter boards on the house even from this distance, and waved wildly at Steve and Evaline, who started making their way to the front door. Steve had flipped Henry over his shoulder, and the kid was howling with laughter as Steve continued to carry him in the fireman position; Daria, meanwhile, was squeezing her little hands on Evaline's face as she babbled about how her auntie looked different, as a streak of worry shot through Evaline's heart.

"Hey, sis," Jeremy said as they reached the front door, reaching out to wrap up her and his daughter in an embrace as Daria squealed with laughter when squeezed between the two adults. Jeremy kissed the top of both of their heads, then gently tugged on the end of Evaline's hair as he said, "I'm liking the short 'do. I imagine the long locks were a lot to keep up with in the Africa heat."

"Like you wouldn't believe," Evaline cracked as Joanna gave her a kiss on the cheek, and Jeremy and Steve shook hands and patted each others backs, a motion that made Joanna roll her eyes at Evaline knowingly.

Suddenly, a voice called from deeper inside the house, "Jer? Whose car is out front?"

Jeremy grinned wildly at Evaline before calling behind him, "Why don't you come see, Ma?"

A woman who Evaline knew had to be in at least her sixties but looked fairly young came around the corner, drying her hands on a dish towel as her graying eyebrows furrowed in confusion on her relatively unwrinkled face. Quickly, Evaline searched her for any of the differences she had found between the two realities' dopplegangers - and gratefully, she found none.

Her mother dropped the dish towel and covered her mouth in surprise, tears brimming at the edge of her eyes as Evaline smiled and said weakly, "Hi, Mom."

Mrs. Kaeser screamed and rushed forward, wrapping her arms tightly around her daughter, with a promise to never again let go. Evaline hadn't realized how tense she was until her mom wrapped her arms around her, and she felt a wave of familiarity rush over her that calmed each of her wound-up nerves, to the point where Evaline felt such a pressure relieve that tears filled her eyes.

As she pulled away from Evaline, her mother startled, saying. "Eva! You never cry! What's wrong?"

Steve, who had begun to follow Jeremy into the house with a friendly hand on his shoulder, quickly whipped around, giving her a worried look that she shook her head at to call him off. Instead, Evaline turned her attention to her mom, who she noticed had no discrepancies from the one she had called her mother in her old reality, a fact she was very soothed by.

"Sorry," Evaline said, giving her mom a watery smile as Steve and Jeremy both watched with lightly veiled concern. "I just missed you all, a lot."

Mrs. Kaeser's eyes also started to fill with tears and her voice warbled as she brought in her only daughter for another tight hug and said, "Oh, honey. We missed you, too."

"Oh, come on! It's too early for the tears!" Jeremy said brightly from beside Steve, pulling away to put one arm each around his sister and mother, giving them both a squeeze around their shoulders. "This is supposed to be a happy occasion! A reunion, a celebration! We can't start the crying now - it's way too early."

Both Evaline and Mrs. Kaeser laughed, the latter dabbing at her eyes with the loose-flowing shirt she was wearing as she said, "He's right, of course. We should be smiling and laughing, not crying. This is a happy day!"

And it was. They spent the entire day eating the banquet of food that Joanna and Mrs. Kaeser had prepared for Evaline's arrival home, and playing with Daria and Henry getting perhaps too much attention. They rotated from playing tag and softball in the front yard to playing some water-based games in the backyard, enjoying the cool breeze of the ocean and the strength of the sun. As the day went on, it wasn't even Steve's bare torso or muscles that Evaline was focused on as they all changed into swimsuits; it was the way he swung Henry up onto his shoulders when the waves got a little too rough, or helped Daria fix the unicorn floatie around her waist, or turned pink with both the heat of the grill and the embarrassment of having nearly burned a whole serving of hamburgers when he and Jeremy got too busy play-arguing about the Yankees and the Red Sox.

What she was focused on was the way he seamlessly wove into her family, and became a part of it - something that she had, in both realities, always wished of her partner. And the sight of Steve doing it so naturally admittedly made Evaline's heart swell.

Their day consisted of Henry and Daria basically monopolizing Evaline's time, telling her all about their favorite school stories and TV shows and friends, and Steve watched from a healthy distance as he seemed almost to be distracting the adults from asking Evaline too many questions. Between barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers, playing Chitauri invasion with the kids where Steve was the aliens he had slaughtered, and watching some basketball games on TV that Joanna and Steve argued about incessantly, it was a gorgeously normal day and proceeded so smoothly that Evaline forgot she had ever been nervous about it in the first place.

At Daria and Henry's request, and Mrs. Kaeser's insistence, they all changed into their pajamas at the end of the day before heading out to the backyard to make s'mores and watch the stars. Steve and Evaline took a seat on one of the porch swings out back, cozying up together underneath a blanket Evaline knew was from her childhood although she couldn't place the source of it. When they weren't sitting together, Evaline was helping Henry attempt the most perfect marshmallow burn of all time, and Jeremy was hammering Steve about questions related to the boat bobbing in the bay behind them, which apparently was having some sort of engine issue.

As the men moved toward the dock to take a look at the boat, Steve passed by Evaline and bent over her, his hands on his shoulders as he whispered in her ear, "Are you okay?"

She placed her hand over his, grinning up at him especially as Daria and Henry screamed about 'cooties'. Despite their insistence that Steve and Evaline move away from each other, she squeezed his hand tighter and promised him, "I'm great."

He grinned back at her before following Jeremy out to the dock, jumping onto the boat with him as the two disappeared from view. Despite their insistence that they weren't tired, Daria began to fall asleep in Joanna's arms, so she made them say goodnight to everyone before taking them into the house to clean the marshmallows and chocolate off their hands and send them to bed.

A peaceful quiet fell across Mrs. Kaeser and Evaline, uninterrupted from whatever work the men were doing on the boat. Still, Evaline kept her eye on them, watching as her brother and Steve laughed at something and Jeremy pretended to knock the superhero into the water.

Sighing contently, Mrs. Kaeser commented, "So, how's it going with you two?"

Evaline was startled by the line of questioning as she gaped at her mother and stammered, "What?"

"Don't 'what' me, missy," Mrs. Kaeser said playfully, rolling her eyes and giving her daughter an exasperated smile. "It's been almost five years since you two started dating, and you're no closer to the next stage than you were when you first brought him home."

Evaline felt her stomach doing somersaults in her abdomen as she gasped, "Mom!"

"I could tell from the first time you brought him home that you loved him, and that hasn't changed a bit," Mrs. Kaeser said warmly, smiling at her daughter, especially as Evaline flushed red from her neck to the tips of her ears. "I know that his job, if you want to call it that, makes this hard… but remind me again - why can't you move forward with him?"

Evaline was surprised at the teenage instinct she had to groan at her mother's question. "'Complicated' doesn't even begin to cover this territory, Mom."

"It doesn't need to be," Mrs. Kaeser said sagely, her smile soft and a little sad. "You love him. He obviously loves you. Sometimes, that's all you need."

Picking at the blanket on her lap, and sensing that Mrs. Kaeser's mind was somewhere else besides her daughter's love life, Evaline felt young again as she asked quietly, "Can you tell me about Dad?"

Mrs. Kaeser seemed taken aback by the question and the change in subject, eyeing her daughter again as she asked gently, "What do you want to know that you don't already?"

"Tell me the story of how you two met again," Evaline insisted earnestly, earning another curious look from her mother. Internally, Evaline's motive for having her mother tell this story was that she wished to know if it matched up with the story she knew from her last reality.

With no idea of her daughter's true intentions, Mrs. Kaeser simply smiled gently before acquiescing to her daughter's request.

"He was in the military, and some girlfriends and I would regularly haunt the bar near base to pick up military guys," Mrs. Kaeser dished, her eyes flashing playfully in the light of the fire in front of them. "I saw your dad from far away, and we kept making eye contact through the bar… but we could never truly find each other. As I laid in bed that night, I couldn't get your dad out of my mind, and I prayed to God - literally - that he would bring the mysterious man back into my life."

Mrs. Kaeser's voice was somewhere far away now, as was her gaze, as she no doubt reminisced on the good times with her husband. Evaline watched as sorrow crossed over her face, but also joy, at the thought of him; she also watched as Jeremy and Steve stood quietly in the shadows behind her, respecting her space as she told the story.

Turning to her daughter, Mrs. Kaeser gave her an entranced smile as she said, "That Sunday, at a church I went to almost every weekend, I still had your father on my brain as I said my prayers before the service started. As I was on the kneeler, I felt a tug on my dress, and looked down to see the kneeler next to mine had landed on top of my dress. I looked up, and sitting at the opposite end of that kneeler, smiling at me with pleasured surprise, was your father."

Evaline whispered, the story coming back to her, "You got married in the same church nine months later."

"And popped out your brother nine months after that," Mrs. Kaeser said, her smile back to joyful again. "I'm not sure when he learned from your father to be such a little sneak, though."

Jeremy and Steve stepped forward from the shadows, Evaline's brother putting both of his hands on his mother's shoulders as he said, "Not sneaky enough, apparently. Now that I've gotten Steve to fix my boat for me, I think it's time I headed inside and joined my wife in sleep. Any other takers?"

Mrs. Kaeser stood, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders like a shawl. "It's getting far too cold and late out here for a woman of my age and arthritic status to stand it anymore, anyway. I'll come inside, too."

Nodding in agreement, Steve looked like he was going to join them, but Evaline quickly stood up and placed her hand around his upper arm. She surprised him, garnering his attention as she asked him quietly, "Can we just… stay out here for a little longer?"

He looked taken aback by the statement, but simply nodded. Jeremy smirked at them from them porch doorway, saying, "Just remember, there's still kids inside the house, and we've all got pretty good hearing."

Mrs. Kaeser playfully swatted at her eldest's chest as he laughed and disappeared into the house, waving behind him at his sister and her supposed boyfriend. His mother grinned beatifically at Evaline and Steve as she walked inside the house, saying, "You two don't stay up too late, okay? Goodnight, my loves."

She disappeared back into the house, shutting the sliding glass door behind her as Steve joined Evaline back on the porch swing they had been sharing. Instead of leaning against Steve's side again with his arm behind her like they had been, the two of them sat separate from each other, still sharing the same blanket, since there was no one left to put on a show for.

"Thank you, for forcing me to go and coming with me," Evaline said gently, breaking the silence as she played with the frayed edges of the blanket.

"Of course," Steve said, nodding his head as he placed his arm on the back of the swing, his hand grazing gently against her shoulder. Carefully, he asked, "Were you… are you remembering some things?"

Slowly, Evaline nodded, admitting, "Some things. Very small tidbits here and there. Like, I can remember that bit about my parent's story, or that Joanna's favorite flowers are tulips, or that Jeremy wanted to be an astronaut growing up… or that your favorite ice cream is Rocky Road. But I feel like I can't remember a lot of the more important things, and that kills me."

His hand pressed against the skin between her shoulder blades as he said to her soothingly, "It'll come, or we'll figure it out, I promise you."

Her eyes lifted as she turned her body toward his, her hand absent-mindedly against his thigh as she told him, "Steve, I wanted to say - you've been so great through all of this. Thank you for being so kind, and so patient with me, and for… for not giving up on me. I'm sorry that I'm not healing as quickly as I'm sure you hoped I would be, but…"

"No," he said sharply, although his expression looked more stricken than anything else. The abrupt interruption startled Evaline, and he sighed, saying, "All that matters to me is that you're here."

Using the arm he had around her shoulders, he pulled her in closer so he could kiss the crown of her head. Evaline felt heat rush from the point of contact all the way to her toes, making each individual one curl and making each muscle in her body contract, before they all relaxed fully for what felt like the first time.

She squeezed her eyes shut and let herself be enveloped by Steve, wrapping her arms around his waist in turn and hid her face in his shoulder. The two of them spent several minutes in the embrace, Evaline finding herself immensely calmed down by the steady sound of Steve's breathing and the crashing of the waves against the shore.

He was the one to pull away first, saying quietly, "We really should head back inside and get some rest for the drive back tomorrow."

Evaline knew he was right, but she was surprised by how badly she wanted to stay in his arms under the stars. Still, she fought against making the suggestion to do so, worried that one thing would quickly lead to another and land her in situation that she wouldn't be able to handle.

Still, when they stood up from the porch swing to return inside, Evaline slipped her hand into Steve's so effortlessly that she wondered if he even noticed she had done it. Despite the fact that her heart was hammering away in her chest, the position felt so insanely natural to Evaline that she wondered why she hadn't attempted to do so earlier.

They crept back through the dark, quiet house, headed to the bedroom Evaline's mom had reserved them. As they made it to the door, Steve turned to her, staring at her for a few moments before lifting his hand to her mouth. He kissed the knuckle underneath her thumb and met her eyes as he did so, then murmured against her skin, "Goodnight, Eva."

He gently lowered her hand, then disentangled his from hers, turning to go down the hallway as Evaline watched him in curiosity for a few moments. When she realized he was seriously about to walk away, she called out quietly after him, "Where are you going?"

Turning back to her, Steve gave her a confused look, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to the living room as he said simply, "I'm going to go sleep on the couch."

"That's stupid, Steve. It's a king-sized bed," Evaline said, rolling her eyes and adopting a playfully patronizing smile. As Steve opened his mouth, no doubt to argue, she insisted, "I promise I'll try not to get cooties on you."

"I'm not worried about cooties," he replied slowly, his eyes heavy on hers even with the distance separating them in the hallway. Evaline tipped her head to the side in an unasked question, but just as Steve opened his mouth to answer her, the silence and tense air between them was interrupted by his cell phone ringing.

His hand went to his pocket instinctively, but he hesitated when it came to pulling it out. Evaline felt herself caught somewhere between relief and disappointment as whatever spell had come over the both of them shattered with the noise, and she told him, "Answer it."

Throwing her an apologetic look, he slipped the phone out of his pocket and answered, "Rogers."

Evaline watched him carefully, watching his face as it became more and more concerned, anger leeching onto his features. Whoever was on the other end of the phone talked for a while, before Steve said in a business-like tone she had yet to see him use, "I understand. We'll leave immediately. I'll call you when we're on the jet."

Her stomach sinking, Evaline kept her eyes on Steve's as he hung up the phone, his apologetic look returned. Carefully, she asked, "What? What happened?"

Steve sighed, pulling a hand roughly through his blonde hair as he said, "We found Nitro. He's holding hostages in Boston, and will only speak to you. We have to leave, now."

And the sweet normalcy of the night came to a halting crash.


	11. Chapter 11

When they stepped onto the Quinjet, Evaline saw they weren't alone.

Sam and Wanda sat in the pilot and co-pilot seats, respectively, although Evaline knew distantly that only Sam knew anything about flying the jet. Wanda proved what she was there for, however, as she got up from the seat to greet them, giving them a sad smile. "We're sorry to ruin your little adventure, but…"

"Duty calls," Evaline said, shrugging as if she knew what was actually going on. It earned a little bit more of a genuine smile from Wanda, although it also looked like Steve's frown deepened a bit. "What's the situation?"

"We got reports of explosions in Boston Common, and then the videos and pictures came in confirming that it was Nitro. Ever since the incident in Chicago, he's become somewhat of a well-known figure," Wanda said, wincing a little bit as she said it. "There's been a lot of public outlast at us for not capturing him in Chicago, and now he's at it again. This time, however, is different."

Steve nodded once and said imploringly, "The hostages?"

"Being held at the Cutler Majestic Theater," Wanda said, swiping her fingers over the console in the middle of the plane as she brought up multiple screens, including blueprints of the theater and the surrounding area, surveillance footage of the attack and outside the theater, as well as a few pictures and profiles of some of the believed hostages. "There was a theater group that was doing a full dress rehearsal there today, and he's holding the cast and crew, as well as the orchestra, hostage."

His eyes scanning rapidly across the various screens that had popped up, Steve asked, "Has he made any specific demands besides wanting to talk to Evaline?"

Wanda's jaw tensed as she pursed her lips, then shook her head. "No. That's been the only thing he's said to us at all - 'I'll only talk to Agent Kaeser'."

"Something is up with this," Sam said suspiciously, clicking on the autopilot and turning his chair around so he faced them, his eyebrows furrowed in both confusion and focus. "Why the hell would Nitro take hostages? That's not his MO, and it's a little ballsy, even for him. What's his game?"

"That's what we're going to figure out," Steve said with grim determination, reaching underneath the console and pulling out his shield and a hefty black backpack as he started heading toward the back of the plane. He suddenly paused, turning as he looked at Evaline in surprise, and she returned his expression with one of confusion. Shaking his head once, he explained, "I just realized… you don't have a suit."

"Yes, she does," Wanda said, causing Evaline to turn toward her in curiosity to see that she was holding out a large navy backpack similar to the one Steve was holding. Wanda even gave her a small smile as she offered an explanation by saying, "It's your go bag. Your suit is inside."

Evaline eyed the bag tentatively before reaching out and taking it from Wanda's grasp, turning toward one of the bathrooms with the pack tucked under her arm. Despite the slim shape and size of the Quinjet, the bathroom itself was relatively spacious and done tastefully, with a granite countertop and slate tiling. It also provided enough room for Evaline to change without her making too big of a fool of herself, or by injuring herself even before the fight by jamming some extremity against the counters.

Originally, she had thought she would struggle getting into the all leather ensemble, but she was surprised when it slid on like a glove. The black and navy leather was surprisingly cool and airy, and easy to move in. She was sure it was made of some hitherto unknown or secret material she had never heard of before, but she also didn't want to question what it was made of.

As she exited back out into the main part of the Quinjet, Wanda and Steve looked up at her quickly. Steve had changed as well, and was now wearing a darker, navy-and-black version of the uniform than Evaline was used to seeing, although the obligatory star on his chest was still present. Even the shield he had leaning against his calf was in darker shades of silver, maroon, and navy.

Belatedly, Evaline realized with a pang of displacement that she and Steve could be models for his-and-hers matching super-spy suits.

Wanda grinned at the sight of Evaline in her suit, such a genuine expression that Evaline couldn't help but smile back. Steve's eyes, meanwhile, hooded over again as he spied her in her suit, his voice thick as he said, "It's been a while since I've seen you in that."

Feeling herself begin to flush, Evaline quickly turned away from him and reached up to zip the section over her cleavage a little more. She could still feel Steve's eyes on her back and traveling slowly downward, so she practically threw herself into a chair in an attempt to keep him focused on the more important matters at hand, but it was Wanda who finally redirected his attention as she said, "Approaching Boston in five minutes."

"Who else is there?" Evaline asked, eager to divert the conversation away from wherever Steve's comment had been headed.

Sam banked the Quinjet to the left without warning, saying, "Natasha, Tony, and Vision were sent out to do re-con, so they're already there and have a few traps in place in case Nitro tries anything funny. Rhodey's out on a mission with the Air Force, and we left Bruce at home, because we don't really need a Hulk in the situation."

Reaching out quickly to grab onto something to balance herself, Evaline commented, "Probably for the best to leave the green monster out of reach of the self-exploding guy."

"Yeah, we thought the same," Sam cracked back. "We'll just be meeting Natasha and Tony on a rooftop at the building next to the theater for the rendezvous. Vision's got the offensive on the aerial front if need be. The plan is to send you in with a comm device and see what he wants, and adjust from there. Cap, Natasha, Tony, and Wanda will be waiting on the rooftop and deciding which plan to go with depending on the intel you get."

Evaline peaked an eyebrow as she asked, "You're not coming with us?"

"No, I'm staying in the Quinjet and keeping it ready for when you need me to rescue your asses," Sam said with an easy smile, although she did see the worry etched at the corner of his eyes. Sensing that Evaline wasn't really relaxing with his joke, he clicked on the autopilot for the jet, stood up, and made his way into the back of the plane as he rested a hand gently on her shoulder. "You've got this, Kaeser. You've got one thing we could never teach to new recruits if they didn't have it, and that's your intelligence and patience. That, not the ability to shoot a bullseye from a hundred feet away or the ability to fly, is what will get these people out of this situation. We wouldn't be sending you in unless we had the faith that you could do this."

She gave him a weak, but grateful, smile as she said, "Thanks, Sam."

He squeezed her shoulder once, before nodding and turning back to his pilot's seat, calling over his shoulder, "Get ready for landing."

No sooner had he called out the warning and Evaline braced herself, she felt the Quinjet shudder ever so slightly as Sam brought it down, turning the engines on standby as Evaline tried to keep her dinner in her stomach. Just the thought of the meal, of the normalcy she had been living in only an hour before, was threatening enough to bring it back up again, so she tried to think of other matters as Sam turned from his pilot's seat.

He grinned at the three of them, saluting as he said, "Whenever you all need me, just say the word. I'm going to keep the jet flying until then so we're ready to go at a moment's notice, if need be."

The end of his sentence was punctuated by the sound of the cargo doors of the Quinjet beginning to open, revealing that Sam had landed the jet on a rooftop next to the theater where Nitro was holding his hostages. Wanda gave Evaline an encouraging smile that gave her the power to walk down the ramp with her and Steve, finding the other members of their team waiting at the end of it.

Tony and Natasha turned around from where they had been looking up at the sky, spotting their motley crew exiting from the Quinjet. As they clocked Evaline in her S.H.I.E.L.D suit, she could swear she saw something like pride cross over Natasha's face, while Tony quickly lifted the face of his mask to reveal his anger as said, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me. You all must be crazy to be sending her in."

Evaline tried not to let the hurt show on her face, or to let the feeling of her stomach dropping get to her, as Wanda insisted defensively, "It's the best move."

"No, no," Tony said, shooting Natasha and Steve annoyed looks, as they seemed to be running the op. "I don't know if you remember this, Eva, but we don't negotiate with terrorists. When they ask to speak to someone, we don't just send that person waltzing in without good reason."

Steve stepped forward as if to argue with him, but Evaline felt something snap into place for her as she let her anger fuel her, stepping up to meet Tony's lack of trust as she asked, "What else has to happen to warrant 'good reason'? If you all go in there, I don't doubt he blows the building. Nitro is different in that way, in that he can cause mass casualties without ever actually harming himself, and he can't be talked down. He has to be bargained with, at least in some sense. How is it any different than if he asked to speak to you? Or Steve? Or Wanda? Or any of you, really?"

Tony's eyes narrowed, his voice low. "Don't make me say it, Kaeser."

"No, I think I will," she continued to badger him, her upper lip even beginning to twitch upward in a snarl. "I want you to say that you won't let me go in there because I don't have my memories, and I don't have the full extent of my training. I want you to say that you won't let me go in there because you all have to protect me, because we're a team and I shouldn't go alone. I want you to say that you won't let me go in there because I don't know what I'm signing up for.

"I want you to say that you won't let me go in there," she continued after a deep breath, "because I want to explain to you why you're wrong. I want to explain to you that I have enough memories, enough training for what this requires. I want to explain to you that I'm doing this to protect you all, because I'm a member of this team, too, and that's what we're here for. I want to explain to you that I do know what I'm signing up for. When I came back, or woke up, or however you want to word it - I chose this all over again, even with knowing so little beyond that it would be the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

Her voice grew quieter, more serious, as she took another step closer to Tony and locked eyes with him, demanding, "Haven't I proved myself to you?"

He looked like he wanted to say "no" just for the sole purposes of keeping Evaline out of the line of fire, but he realized that could, in fact, be more damaging to Evaline than allowing her to lead this situation. His frown deepened as he attempted to come up with a better excuse, the lines at the edges of his mouth pulling taut for several moments before he finally broke the silence that had settled over them and insisted almost childishly, "I _don't_ like this."

"Your opinion has been heard, and ignored," Natasha said sharply without even bothering him an additional glance. "None of us particularly likes it, but it's our best option, and the right one. We'll be right there for her if she needs us, but she won't. This is in her blood."

Tony looked like he was going to argue that point, probably pointing out that it took more than someone's blood to be a proper hostage negotiator, but he quickly - and surprisingly - shut his mouth with one glare from Steve.

Natasha ignored both of the boys, turning to Evaline as she offered her an ear piece from her palm, saying, "Even if we can't be with you physically, we'll still be with you, in a sense. We'll let you run the show, though; I know how stressful it can get with people badgering you in your ear while you're trying to focus on the situation right in front of you. If you need us, your emergency word is 'rose.'"

Slipping the rubber communication device into her ear, Evaline felt her nerves building up and almost firing off as she fought off a nervous laugh. "'Rose'?"

"We figured it's easy to fit into the conversation taking place inside a theater, but not too easy that you'll forget and let it slip out when you don't need it," Steve offered, reaching out to tighten one of the holsters on the left side of Evaline's suit that was holding her taser gun. Even through the thickness of the suit, Evaline felt the touch of his fingertips as they brushed across her ribs and her hip, tugging on the material as they did so.

"And you can use the word even if it's not an emergency," Wanda was quick to add, earning an encouraging nod from Steve. "Even if you feel unsafe and want us to come in and help, or whatever, then just use the word."

She nodded, trying to remain calm as the word 'rose' pinged around her head. Natasha caught her gaze and said, "Are you ready, Eva?"

Swallowing the bile that had threatened to rise up in her throat, Evaline nodded again, not trusting herself to open her mouth. Steve stepped closer to her, Natasha and Wanda moving together as one to step in front of Tony and provide them a moment of privacy at the edge of the rooftop.

"Like they've all been saying - we wouldn't be sending you in if you didn't think you could do this," Steve said gently, murmuring the words to her as he looked down the full nine inches that separated them. Although they were talking about tactics and strategy, something more, something deeper was in the lines of Steve's expression, in the low and steady tone of his voice.

Evaline laughed quietly, pulling the rubber band at the top of her ponytail tight, mostly just for something to do with her hands. "I'm glad someone's feeling confident about this."

His eyebrows furrowing with worry, Steve asked tentatively, "Do you want us to go in on a full-out assault, or to see if he'll let one of us come in with you? Because it's okay…"

"No," Evaline said quickly, putting her hand out on his chest to stop him both from talking and physically moving forward. His hands flickered down to her touch before lifting back to her eyes again, meeting them as she shook her head adamantly and insisted again, "No. There's too many lives in there to risk bartering. We give him what he wants, and we get those people home."

Something like pride flickered through Steve's eyes as Tony stepped up to them, saying, "Not to ruin what I'm sure was a beautiful moment, but we've got to get to moving. The locals are getting a little antsy, and I'm not sure even my or Fury's influence is going to incur us favor for much longer."

Steve turned to Evaline, giving her a questioning look as she nodded in response to his unasked question. "I'm ready. Let's do this."

Wanda hugged her, while Natasha and Tony both clapped hands on her shoulder. Steve didn't touch her at all, instead just giving her an encouraging smile as she turned to the edge of the rooftop and began climbing down a rope ladder that Natasha or someone had hung off the side. She moved swiftly down the rungs, even as the ladder swayed, and jumped the last six feet or so to the ground, landing in a perfect somersault at the side door that they had chosen as her infiltration point.

She looked up and over her shoulder once, seeing Steve, Natasha, Tony, and Wanda all watching her carefully from the rooftop. Through her ear piece, she heard Steve say, "You've got this, Eva."

Turning back to the theater, she took in a deep breath before opening the side door and stepping through, letting the doors close behind her as she was encapsulated in silence compared to the siren-filled scene outside. As she stepped into the theater, she found herself marveling in its beauty and opulence, the scene painted in reds and golds and sporting frescoes and Greek columns throughout the structure.

Finally, her eyes settled at her target in the midst of it all.

Nitro was standing just to the right off center stage, his face turned up to the spotlight as if he were about to deliver a Shakespearian soliloquy to an enraptured audience. At his feet were a group of eight members of the cast and crew: three were dressed in costume, while the other five were not. Below his feet, underneath the stage on which he stood, was the entire orchestra in their small cave, obediently but anxiously remaining where they were as Nitro stole and ran the show.

"Agent Kaeser!" he boomed from his position at center stage, his teeth almost as bright as his shock of white hair, the glint of his teeth visible even from where Evaline stood. "Thank you so much for finally joining us. I was a little bit worried that you were going to miss my performance."

"Really?" Evaline asked, taking even, measured steps down the aisle toward Nitro. "And what performance would that be? Something classic like 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'? Or something a little more modern like 'Spring Awakening'?"

"Hm, something more akin to 'Hamlet', I suppose," Nitro said thoughtfully, his smile turning lazy. "If you're not careful, you may cause more deaths than you intend to."

One of the hostages at his feet, a girl dressed in ancient Greek garb, whimpered with fear, centering and focusing Evaline's anger with Nitro. With every scared expression her eyes flickered to, she thought about the lives they led and would leave behind if she wasn't careful, if she didn't watch every word she spoke and every step she took.

Cautiously, she continued down the aisle toward Nitro, saying, "You asked to speak to me directly. I can't help but wonder why."

"Because you and I are connected, of course," Nitro said with a wide, salacious grin. "No one on your team understands me better than you, and we have such a beautifully complex and knotted history together. I am a little sad you didn't recognize when I changed patterns, though. I thought we knew each other better than that."

Feeling her head tip to the side of its own accord, her curiosity won, she said, "In case you don't remember, I'm not exactly working with a full bank of memories. Care to refresh me and explain exactly it is you mean?"

"All my attacks before this had a purpose, a target," Nitro said tauntingly, his blue eyes wild as he tipped his head to the side. "Didn't you all ever think about what my target was in Chicago?"

Evaline wasn't sure what recess of her brain the answer came from, but she replied, "We just assumed you were aiming for mayhem and casualties. We don't try too hard to read too much into the mind and actions of crazy people."

Shaking his head so his white shock of hair fell over either shoulder, Nitro clicked his tongue in disappointment and adopted a comedic and dramatic frown. "No. You all know better than that. You, especially. Even with your… lapses in memory, you know me, and the way I work. You know that that is not what I do."

Flashing back to Sam's suspicions in the Quinjet, Evaline frowned as she admitted, "Okay. So, tell me then: what was your target?"

He looked genuinely disappointed now that she was asking instead of playing his guessing game. "Oh, come now, Agent Kaeser, don't get lazy on me. I need you to think - really think - about what could have possibly brought me there. There were no major events going on at the time, no major dignitaries present. I didn't even choose a location that would have mass casualties. Now… why on this beautiful Earth would I do that?"

Suddenly, everything clicked into place for Evaline as she felt her stomach plummet. Her voice was quiet, but still echoed throughout the relative emptiness of the theater as she said firmly, "It didn't matter what the fallout was. I was your target. You blew up a city block in Chicago to pull me out and kill me."

His disappointed frown turned into an amused, predatory smile as he shook his head. "No, no. I wasn't there to kill you. I was the bait to draw you in and knock you down so someone else could swoop in and do what they needed to."

Evaline felt the confusion flicker across her face, even with her best attempts to hide it from Nitro, especially as the dots continued to connect in her head. She saw that he didn't miss the expression, however, as his smile grew wider, his white teeth glinting in the stage's spotlights, all as he shouted enigmatically, "Yes, yes! Now you're finally getting it!"

"You work for him," Evaline said, impressing herself with how she managed to reign in her emotions for the accusation. "You work for the man who took away my memories, who put me into a coma."

Nitro frowned again, but it was the first one to actually seem genuine in its distaste. "I work _with_ him… but those days are over for me. He promised me many things, but didn't follow through on his end of the deal, so I'm curious. How much is the solution to your problem worth to you?"

All of the hostages disappeared in Evaline's eyes. For a few minutes, it was just her and Nitro in the theater, especially as she lost whatever small bit of an upper hand she had moments before as she said, "You can't have the solution. You can't have the answers to the questions I have, there's… there's too many."

 _"Eva,"_ Natasha's voice squawked through the comm, helping her re-focus just a bit. " _He's playing you. We have confirmation he was stealing an old diadem from England they were using in the play, and now he's playing you because he got caught. Don't believe him."_

Nitro kept talking, oblivious to the fact that Natasha was also sharing her ear as he said, "You're right, I can't. But I can give you some of the most important answers that may help you find all the rest. I can tell you who is targeting you, and why. I can tell you how he works, and why he does what he does. I can tell you possibly even where to find him, if you move fast enough. But you have to let me go and come with me."

Nitro put out his hand, like a peace offering, and Evaline's whole world zeroed in on in it, regardless of the villainy attached to it. She couldn't help but wonder that if she went with him, how many answers she would actually get. He seemed to be connected, somehow, to the man who had drugged her and presumably taken away her memories. Would he truly be able to help Evaline out, or was it all a ploy in an attempt to either distract her or hurt her?

As she tried to debate the benefits and disadvantages of going with him, she heard a mechanical click echo in the silence of the theater. Quickly turning, she saw the bullet that was barreling toward Nitro catch in one of the spotlight's high-powered beams.

The problem was, so did he.

"No!" Evaline shouted, as she sprung forward and watched his eyes begin to grow bluer and bluer. The three theater workers at his feet all went wide-eyed and leapt up, sprinting for Evaline as she ran for them, knowing none of them would make it out in time.

She paused on the stage, lifting her own gun as her eye zeroed in on the beams in the building's roof. Sending up a prayer, she aimed quickly, shooting almost wildly as finally, the roof of the building came down.

Just as the debris crashed to the stage, providing a small barrier between Nitro and the civilians, he exploded.

Evaline was blasted backward, flying off the stage and into one of the rows of seats as she felt her whole body scream out in protest. Everything was weirdly, eerily silent following the explosion, and that's when Evaline realized that her hearing had momentarily disappeared. As it slowly came back, at first a roaring noise and then a high-pitched scream, she felt someone grabbing her as she went into defensive mode, unable to see them properly as she landed a few hits.

Her hearing improved so she could hear someone calling her name through what sounded like water, and she focused to see that Steve was grabbing her arm. Despite the fact that she didn't want to see the damage Nitro's explosion and her own sabotage of the structure had done, she forced herself to look around them at the debris covering the stage and the people fleeing from the orchestra cave underneath. Wanda was standing at the side of the theater, focused and straining, as she and Vision, who was hovering above centerstage, kept the debris contained and from collapsing into the orchestra. Tony, in his suit, was already moving debris away from where it had closed some people in.

"What the hell did you do?!" Evaline shouted, shoving Steve away, her eyes searching wildly for whoever had attacked Nitro so stupidly. Her eyes searched Steve's body, but she knew she wouldn't find a gun; instead, she turned and began searching for Natasha.

She didn't have to search for a long, turning as she saw the assassin headed toward her. Evaline felt blood trickling down her forehead, and tears trickling down her cheeks as she shouted at Natasha, "What the hell did you do?!"

A look of hurt flashed across Natasha's face as she insisted, "That wasn't me. That wasn't any of us. Someone else was in here with you all, to piss Nitro off. I would guess good money that it was another one of your mystery man's little workers."

At the idea of her mystery attacker still having his hand in her life, Evaline felt she was going to vomit right in the spotlight, but she was distracted as the situation continued to move around her. Tony landed, hard, next to them on the stage, his visor lifting as he said, "All the hostages are accounted for. A few concussions and broken bones, and several scarred psyches, but not too bad, if I do say so myself."

Throwing him an incredulous look, Evaline opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Vision's voice at the other end of the stage calling out, "What would we like to do with him?"

"With who?" Tony asked, all of them taking a step closer to Vision and where he was flying over the largest pieces of debris, consisting of both the damage from Nitro's explosion and Evaline's harried shots.

"With Mr. Hunter, of course," Vision said flatly, pointing to the mass of debris at his feet.

Steve's eyebrows shoved up into the middle of his forehead. "He's still alive?"

"I am sensing a heat signature consistent with the matter of life," Vision said in his animatronic voice, his face even and stoic.

Natasha scoffed, even bothering to cross her arms over her chest as she said, "Just leave him under the debris. I'm sure that he'll die of the crush injuries soon enough."

Whirling around, her face open and innocent, Wanda she gaped at Natasha as she insisted with surprise, "We can't just let him die!"

One of the assassin's eyebrows raised as she asked flatly, "Why not?", garnering an exasperated look from both Wanda and Steve.

It was Tony, whoever, who spoke up and said, "The psycho's obviously got some information pertinent to whatever situation we've got going on with Eva, and she deserves to know what he knows. We all do, actually."

Natasha rolled her eyes, just as Steve gently touched his comm and said, "Sam, call Strange and tell him we're bringing in a trauma patient for him and we'll meet him at the complex. And have the Quinjet ready."

They all moved as a team to extract Nitro from the death trap he had nearly been buried under. As Wanda and Vision used telepathy and Tony used the suit to pry away the larger pieces of debris, Natasha, Evaline, and Steve just used their hands and arms to move the smaller pieces until they finally managed to uncover Nitro. His entire body seemed to be one large bruise, swollen and malformed both from the accident itself as well as his explosion shortly beforehand that Evaline would guess had somehow changed his ability to heal properly.

They finally were able to remove most of the debris from the top of his body, but it didn't look good as his bones pointed out at awkward angles, blood oozed out of various wounds, and bruising had already begun to mottle his skin. He was breathing, but barely, and the respirations he did exhale sounded either wet or rattling and nowhere in between.

"Nat," Steve said pointedly, jerking his chin to Nitro as the spy gave him an annoyed look. When she didn't move, Steve said, firmer this time, " _Nat."_

"Fine, fine," she grumbled, moving toward Nitro as she leaned over him. Commenting snidely above her, she said, "Shuri is going to be pissed when I asked for more of these because we used them on psychotic murderers."

Evaline watched in curiosity as Natasha popped a metallic bead off of one of the bracelets on her wrist, placing it inside a particularly dangerous looking wound on Nitro's neck. A sharp-lined emblem glowed in the center of the bead before the skin shrunk around the edges of the wound and his breathing, which had been erratic and shallow, seemed to even out a little bit.

When Tony saw Evaline's widened eyes, he offered, "Wakandan tech. Helps with superficial injuries. We used about twenty on…"

He trailed off quickly as Steve shot him a blood-curdling look, and as Sam called through their comms that the Quinjet was ready for takeoff. Vision and Wanda worked together to levitate Nitro's body and move it off the stage, through the door, and up to the rooftop where Sam had been keeping the Quinjet warm for them. As they moved, Steve murmured the tentative plan to Sam, so the Air Force veteran wasn't surprised when he saw that they were essentially rescuing their enemy.

The ride back to the Avengers complex, where Strange would be awaiting them to receive Nitro and perform more medical mysteries, was tense. Vision and Wanda were keeping their psychic abilities focused wholly on Nitro, just in case he were to wake, although Vision insisted that was relatively impossible considering the vast extent of his injuries.

When they arrived at the complex, Strange immediately took over, barking orders at the nurses and techs around him as they been grabbing supplies and medications that Evaline assumed would help Nitro stay alive.

Over the next few hours, most of the others had trickled away during the surgery to go rest or clean up after the mission, but Evaline had stayed where she was, pacing every so often as she waited for Nitro to reappear. Steve watched her warily, silently, as she did so, always seeming like he was on the edge of about to say something to her - but he never did.

When Strange finally rolled Nitro into what would be his recovery room, Evaline barely recognized the villain. He was intubated, one of the various machines doing the work of breathing for him; he had four different IV lines hooked up to three different channels around him; and he had a chest tube actively emptying out blood on his left side.

Distantly, Evaline wondered if she had looked similar when they had rescued her from her near-death experience, and realized that Tony's earlier comment about the mysterious Wakandan healing beads had probably been a narrative from what efforts had been made to heal her previously.

"Strange said that he'll be in a medically induced coma for at least a couple of days, although he's hopeful that when he starts to wean him off the medications that Nitro'll wake up and be himself. We'll get the answers we need then," Steve said firmly as they both eyed Nitro through the glass. She felt Steve's eyes shift to her, watching her for a few moments as her own gaze stayed locked on Nitro.

She found herself speaking without even consciously choosing the words as she asked quietly, "Did I look like this?"

Steve froze beside her, remaining silents for a few moments before he said, "Nitro looks worse. A lot of your injuries were internal, or hidden by the hospital gown. Besides the tube coming out of your mouth, you looked like…. you."

Evaline heard him swallow in the heavy silence that followed his statement, and she felt her heart tightening as she willed her body to turn to him, to embrace him and console him for the sorrow of his memories. But her eyes were just locked on Nitro, on the machines beside him, and on the fact that this had probably been her hospital room only a few weeks prior.

She also couldn't help but wonder how soon it would be before she, or someone else on her team, would be occupying the room next.

Finally, the tension and silence between them broke as Steve's phone rang. His voice sounded the same as it had after the explosion earlier - warbled, like he was speaking under water - although for a very different reason this time.

Steve hung up the phone and turned to her, reaching out to gently touch his arm with his fingers as he spoke in a low, soothing tone. "I need to go debrief with Fury. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she finally spoke, earning a less-than-convinced look from Steve. She forced on a brave smile, waving at him to go as she insisted, "I'm fine, Steve. It was just a lot of excitement for one day. I think I'm just going to go straight to bed."

His expression softened as he said, "You did a great job and saved those people's lives, Eva. Just focus on that, and it'll be okay."

Continuing to carry on her brave smile, she waited until he turned, exiting the hallway, to let the expression fall as she faced the room Nitro was in, the two of them, in some manner, alone. When he wasn't smirking at her or crackling at the edges with atomic energy, it was easy to see only what connected the two of them rather than the gap of morality that distanced them. More than anything, Evaline wondered what the common denominator was between them that had made them both targets of the mysterious man that was obviously controlling Nitro and had been attacking Evaline. What power did that mysterious man have that even Nitro, a villain loyal to no one and nothing, follow blindly?

As she turned and walked away from his new prison, Evaline couldn't help but fear the moment Nitro awoke, and the horrible possibility of the answers he could offer.


	12. Chapter 12

Evaline wasn't sure exactly how much time she spent standing at the window into Nitro's room, watching him breathe with the machines, but she finally turned away and exited back to her room that had housed her shortly after waking her out of her coma. She was surprised to feel that she missed her room at the Tower now, both due to the fact that it had become a comfortable area for her and because Steve's room was so close to hers.

She saw the light was still on in Wanda's room, peeking out underneath the bottom edge of the door, and she debated knocking on her door just to have someone to talk to. Out of all of the Avengers, she felt safest with the witch, knowing that she would support whatever she said or did, and would always provide the comfort she needed.

Although she had begun to lift her fist to knock on the door, Evaline eventually lowered it and turned back to her own room, quickly pushing inside and shutting the door behind her.

She slept lightly that night, waking several times to nightmares that had her running to Nitro's prison to make sure they were not, in fact, real - that he had not escaped, that he had not turned the wing that housed the men's dorms into a flaming mess, that he had not died without her knowing and left her with her questions still unasked.

The next day, she knew she looked awful, because her body felt like it was revolting against her own mind, screaming out in protest as she moved sluggishly to complete her daily routine. She thanked her luck that nobody else seemed to be crowding the kitchen as she swallowed a quick breakfast of coffee and a breakfast bar before heading back to her room to prepare for the morning run she was hoping would help clear her head.

With her run, she kept close to the complex this time, not daring to go into the forest where she had been attacked although it was both daytime and scouts had scourged it previously to find no trace of the mysterious man or anyone working for him. She thought forlornly about the lake that had soothed her so effectively before, and how now she wouldn't risk the travel to get there in fear her mind would unravel before she had an opportunity to let it relax at the lakeside.

When she made it back to the complex, Steve was waiting for her in the kitchen as she went to get a glass of water, wearing a Yankees t-shirt, a pair of sweatpants, and a simple pair of tennis shoes. He was so dressed down that it sparked something in Evaline's chest, a faint memory rising in the back of her head of lazy mornings in the Tower or his Brooklyn apartment, runs in Central Park early in the morning where she knew Steve was forcefully matching his pace to her own, or late nights cuddled on the couch to watch TV or read books.

She was so focused on the memories, she hadn't even realized that Steve was talking to her until he was waving a callused hand in her face, calling out, "Hello? Eva? Earth to Evaline?"

"Sorry," she said, swatting his hand away gently. "The adrenaline from my run has still got my head buzzing. What's up?"

"We need to get you out of here," Steve said, mock-seriously. Evaline gave him a curious look as she tipped her head to the side, feeling her braid slide over her shoulder. To answer her unasked question, Steve lifted two pieces of paper into the air in front of him, saying, "I'm sorry I couldn't get us tickets to _Hamilton_. Tony laughed at me when I asked, but he scored us tickets to _Wicked_. It's like _The Wizard of Oz_ apparently, and I know that."

Evaline had to press her lips together to suppress the laughter that was threatening to burst out from her throat due to Steve being under the illusion that _Wicked_ would be similar to _The Wizard of Oz,_ but she also didn't have the heart to contradict him. Instead, she allowed herself a bigger, more genuine smile as she said, "Steve, that's really sweet of you."

"So, is that a yes?" he asked boyishly, waving the tickets in front of his face.

Reaching forward to snag her ticket out of his hand, she said, "That's a yes, Captain. What time should I be ready by?"

He smiled down at her, a truly and genuinely happy smile that nearly cracked her chest. "Show's at eight, so we can leave here around six or so? I wanted to get dinner beforehand, but Fury has us in a debriefing right before, and…"

"Steve," Evaline said gently, putting her hands on his chest to get him to stop talking. He did as her touch commanded, his eyes flitting down to where her palms were resting, before moving back up to her eyes, his pupils slightly more dilated.

Her voice and smile were soft and private as she said, "It'll be perfect, okay?"

"Okay," he said on an exhale of breath, his shoulders relaxing beneath her hands as she finally removed them from her chest. "Meet right here, at that time?"

"Looking forward to it," she said genuinely, backing out of the kitchen after grabbing a water bottle from the fridge. She felt Steve's eyes on her back as she exited, but didn't dare around, for worry that the anxiety of their scheduled and imminent date would show easily on her face.

Evaline made it back to the hallway that housed her room, but turned instead across the hall as she began knocking on a different door.

"Wanda! Wanda!" Evaline called out, all but slamming her fist on the witch's door. After a minute or so, the door finally swung open, revealing a distressed Wanda, who was wearing Beats headphones around her neck that were still blaring pop punk at an obscenely loud level.

"What?" Wanda asked, her eyes wide at Evaline's appearance. "What's happened?"

"I…" Evaline flushed, realizing Wanda was probably assuming that something was cosmically wrong due to the panic on Evaline's face and her insistent knocking. She tried to calm herself down, swallowing some of her fear as she said slowly, "Nothing's wrong, but I… I need your help."

Wanda's expression shifted more from fear to concern as she said slowly, "Okay. With what?"

Evaline had to force herself to swallow again, mostly because she had that acid taste in her mouth that usually forewarned her that her breakfast was going to come up. She barely made out the words, "With… with getting ready for a date."

The witch simply blinked and stared at her for a few moments before exploding into a laughing, squealing being of energy as she wrapped up Evaline in an embrace, shouting, "I knew it! I knew that you two would get back together!"

"Hey, hey!" Evaline said, gently disentangling herself from the Sokovian. "Let's not get too excited, okay? It's just one date, one Broadway show, and…"

Wanda calmed down a little bit, but her smile remained as she said, "And this is a big deal for you two, a big step in the right direction. Don't belittle it. But, you came to the right place."

Escorting her into her room, Wanda guided her to a rather antique-looking vanity she had against one side of her room, which was covered with various make-up tools, perfumes, and jewelry accessories. Evaline took a seat on the bench in front of it, and Wanda went right to work, coming through her hair and setting a curler to it as Evaline went through the digital collection of the clothes available to her from the S.H.I.E.L.D closet for the perfect dress.

Halfway through Wanda beautifying her, Evaline found the dress she hadn't even realized she'd been looking for: a low cut V-neck dress with three quarter sleeves, made from a matte maroon silk that landed just an inch above her knee. Before Wanda started in on Evaline's make-up, she helped her slip into the dress, and Evaline was amazed once more with how comfortable she was with the witch.

A few hours later, after breaks for lunch and general gossiping between the both of them, Wanda finally allowed Evaline to see herself n the mirror for the first time since she had started to work her magic on her, and Evaline was amazed at how she had transformed her as she spied her reflection in the mirror.

Her brass hair fell in loose curls around her shoulders, ending just above her collar bones that were partially exposed due to the low cut of her dress' neck. The way Wanda had curled her hair allowed for her natural highlights to shine, making her seem more blonde than brunette for once, and the brightness of her hair combined with whatever magical combination of eye make-up Wanda had used made her green eyes that much brighter, too.

Touching her face gently and looking at it in the mirror, Evaline muttered gratefully, "You're a sorceress in more than one way, Wanda."

The comment earned a bark of laughter from her friend, who playfully swatted her hand away from her face to discourage her from messing up the make-up she had worked so hard on. "Yes, well even my magic can't fix it if you so wantonly mess it up again. Be careful."

Evaline sensed that the warning for her safety had a double meaning, and she put a hand gently over Wanda's, squeezing it gratefully. "I will be. Thank you, Wanda."

Both of them exited the room, Evaline headed to her own room to wait out the remainder of the time until she was to meet with Steve, while Wanda headed to the training facility for a prescheduled meeting with Vision. Evaline counted nearly every heartbeat in her chest in the hour or two that passed with her anxiously awaiting seeing Steve again, and she wondered as she walked to the kitchen to meet with him when the last time was she had been this beautifully nervous, and whether it was a good or bad sign of things to come.

As she neared the kitchen, she heard two voices talking, and finally she saw that Steve was spending his time waiting for her by talking to Sam. However, Evaline's eyes barely registered Sam's presence, instead, her eyes going straight to the man she had come there to meet. Steve was wearing a pair of navy slacks with a light blue dress shirt, partially opened at the top and rolled to the middle of his forearms. Evaline didn't initially announce her arrival, instead taking the moment to take Steve in fully, in what she recognized as a fully relaxed and natural moment for him. He was leaning against the fridge, holding a glass of water as he laughed at something that Sam was saying to him, his eyes slowly moving to Evaline as he lost his smile and choked a little bit on his water.

Turning quickly, Sam only relaxed when he saw Evaline standing behind them, her cheeks slightly reddened at Steve's response to seeing her. The blush only deepened when Sam allowed a wide smile to creep onto his own face, teasing Evaline as she asked, "You got a hot date tonight, Kaeser?"

"Can it, Wilson," Steve said, placing his still partially full cup in the sink before stepping between Sam and Evaline, putting out a hand to her as his blue eyes flashed in the kitchen lights, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Ready, Eva?"

She looked at his hand for a second too long, she knew, but when she took it, none of it obviously mattered to Steve as his face lit up and she said, "Ready."

"You two kids have fun!" Sam called from his perch against the sink as they walked out of the kitchen together. She heard a sniffle and then him say, mockingly sad, "They grow up so fast!"

Steve escorted her out of the main complex to where a S.H.I.E.L.D vehicle was waiting for them, chauffeur included. They spent the entirety of the ride with the privacy window up, the two of them simply talking in the backseat about a variety of subjects, most of which were matters that Steve either had to remind Evaline of or confirm that they had remained the same. They talked about artists and TV shows that had run through their heyday and others that were still popular, significant pop culture deaths that had seemed to occur more frequently over the last several years, and, more largely, the political state of the country. The highlight of the night was Steve's response of disgust and terror after Evaline ruined his personal story of meeting President Ellison for the first time by informing him she had left a world where Donald Trump had won the presidency.

Still, as they made it to the center of Manhattan, Evaline couldn't help but notice both of them stayed quite away from their personal lives. Steve gave her no information regarding his history before he went under the ice, or after - and certainly he gave her no information of how they had met, or how their relationship had coalesced. To be fair, Evaline admonished herself for not at least getting the conversation started by sharing some facts about her life on her previous Earth. She was sure that Steve was holding back because he was fearful talking about the life she had once lived would scare her off as she failed to remember any of it.

Just as she garnered the bravery to speak up, the driver rolled down the privacy window that separated them and and announced they were at the theater as the car came to a full stop. As they moved to step out of the car, Steve threw on a ball cap that was incongruous with the rest of his outfit. Evaline raised an eyebrow as he offered, "I'm a little more recognizable than you, and I don't know about you, but I don't want anything interrupting our date."

Her heart raced again at the word 'date', and she surprised even herself by reaching out to Steve's hand and lacing her fingers through his as an attempt to calm herself down. He startled a little bit but then relaxed as well, especially when Evaline said, "You better take it off in the theater, though, because that's just rude."

"Wouldn't imagine keeping it on," he said with a wide grin as Evaline led him to the box office, having her regular sense of deja vu that they had done something similar to this before, which, with the confidence that Steve moved with, she wouldn't doubt.

They stepped inside the relatively simply but still beautiful Gershwin Theater, and Evaline felt herself tense as she inevitably fought back to the fight with Nitro just the day prior that felt like lifetimes ago. Sensing where her mind was headed, Steve slipped a hand into the small of her back and, having removed his cap, moved so his lips were by her ear as he whispered, "It's okay. We're safe here."

His words and his presence soothed her, but now her body was tense for entirely different reasons as Steve guided her into the row that held their seats. Steve slipped his arm behind her seat the first chance he got, and Evaline wondered if it was because his wide-shouldered frame barely fit in the narrow theater seat or because he wanted to have contact with her. As she opened her mouth to ask, she quickly closed it again as the theater's lights grew dark and the curtain parted to reveal the complex set for _Wicked._

And for almost three hours, the rest of the world fell blissfully away.

Evaline would be lying if she said she didn't get caught up in the story she had already seen on stage twice and read in the books once. She cried and laughed with the characters on stage, and with Steve beside her. Although he remained tear-free, she could see he was engrossed in the story that was playing out in front of them, even going so far as to lean over to Evaline at certain points and ask for clarification on what exactly was happening.

Steve was still blinking in confusion as they left the theater after the show finished, earning easy laughter from Evaline. He shook his head, saying, "Okay, I know that Hollywood is re-making every book and movie now-a-days to within an inch of its own life, but that seemed a little… deviant from the original."

"It's supposed to be," Evaline said, laughter still lacing her voice. Steve gave her a playfully betrayed look, and she laughed out loud again, saying, "I'm sorry I didn't warn you! I wanted to see this expression on your face, right now. It was so worth it."

He couldn't help but grin back as he reached underneath his ball cap and scratched his forehead, saying, "Well, I'm glad you got your entertainment from two different sources tonight, even if both were at the cost of my dignity."

"May I remind you that you are Steve Rogers, and that you have dignity in spades?" Evaline asked, playful as Steve's smile flashed again even in the shadow of the cap he was wearing.

"I think you are assuming a lot of things about me," he said, equally as playful as he slipped a hand in the small of her back to guide her through the crowd and not lose her as easily. Evaline purposefully slowed her steps so that his palm rested fully against her spine, his fingertips just folding over the curve of her hip as his touch became more of a grip.

She looked over her shoulder at him, nearly stopping both of them on the sidewalk as she gave him a slow smile and said, "Prove me wrong, then."

The world fell silent around them as his blue eyes crashed to her green ones.

A stranger stumbled next to them on the sidewalk, bumping into Evaline as Steve shot out an arm to catch her before she had even the smallest chance to fall. She caught the quick look of anger and alertness that crossed over Steve's face before the lanky teenager that had tripped on a crack in the pavement apologized to Evaline and carried on their way.

Sensing how tense Steve had become, Evaline slipped her hand in his and said, "Come on. I want to go see the lights."

Steve relaxed, smiling at her as he nodded and squeezed her hand, letting her lead now. As they poured out from the side street into Times Square, Evaline found herself immersed in the noise and bright lights that surrounded her. She had only been a few times before in her own Earth, but she felt that the chaos that reigned in Times Square matched the same activity she had seen in it previously. Although for most, it was more of a stressor to be in the middle of the Square and surrounded by hawkers and tourists, Evaline felt herself drawn to it, letting Steve follow closely behind as she marveled in the life that surrounded them.

The chaos allowed for Evaline to focus on her own thoughts, her own life, and the way it contributed to the scene around them. She felt Steve next to her, his body a little tenser than normal, and realized that the location held a higher importance to him than most.

So, she finally decided to cross that small chasm that still existed between them, and figure out how to build the bridge necessary to cover the space.

"In… the other world," Evaline said carefully, keeping her eyes on the neon billboards around them even when she felt Steve's eyes shift to her, "you came back by escaping a S.H.I.E.L.D safe house and running out to here. Is that true?"

Out of her peripheral vision, she saw his jaw clench, then loosen. "Yes. I woke up in what I thought could be an actual safe house, in my time, but I quickly realized it wasn't. The Marines guarding my room were wearing outdated uniforms, and I saw what I now know to be a CCTV camera in one of the corners. Something felt off, so I ran - right through the S.H.I.E.L.D Manhattan offices and right out here, where Fury stopped me and told me what had happened."

Evaline felt her stomach clench at the idea of Steve waking up to find that so many decades of life had passed him by, and she felt guilt as she realized how much worse that was than the situation she was in. Curiosity won her over as she asked, "What made you listen to Fury? What made you believe that all this could be possible?"

Steve was silent for a few moments, his blue eyes reflecting the neon lights around him as a small, serene smile with unabashed wonder spread across his face as he finally said, "Realizing how incredible and beautiful this world turned out to be… it was worth everything."

Evaline stared in wonder at him, in wonder at the man he was despite the obstacles he had gone through: the determination through which he became a soldier in the first place, the trust he had in Fury upon first waking up to use him as he could and should be used, and the innate leadership he had shown in becoming one of the heads of the Avengers.

She grabbed his hat by the bill, lifting it up just a bit so she could see more of his face, which looked startled at her movement, especially as their eyes locked. Then, she leaned up and pressed her lips to his, not caring who in Times Square saw them, especially as Steve wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and brought her front flush to his.

Every single bit of sound faded away into nothing around them as she focused on the way his hands felt against the small of her back, like the curve of her spine had been made for them; on the way his lips encircled and enfolded her own, gently but possessively; on the way his heart raced underneath the hand against his chest to raise herself up the near-foot difference between them.

When they separated what felt blissfully like hours later but which Evaline knew had been possibly only a minute, Steve asked breathlessly, "Do you remember?"

Evaline's heart stammered in her chest as she fell to the flats of her feet again, feeling a blush begin to rise into her cheeks at the idea that she could kiss Steve Rogers and have him feel the same way she did. It was just another reminder that despite the fact that she should be one person, she was truly someone else, and she felt she was misleading Steve.

She stepped away from him, muttering, "No. I'm sorry."

"What?" Steve asked, looking truly confounded as Evaline turned away from him, heading back to the street. He quickly walked after her, saying, "Eva…"

A black car pulled up to the edge of the car, followed closely by a second one that made both Steve and Evaline freeze. Steve smoothly stepped in front of Evaline, but the precaution was for nothing; one of the windows rolled down, and Natasha's head poked out.

"Sorry to break up the date, love birds, but we've got a 911 in Tokyo that requires our attention, Rogers," Natasha said, at first joking until she saw the look on Evaline's face. She went into protective friend mode as she asked, "Everything okay?"

"Yup," Evaline said with such force that Steve flinched a little bit. She pointed to the other car and asked, "That my ride back?"

"Yeah," Natasha said slowly, her eyebrows creasing just slightly in confusion as she threw Steve an accusatory look before leveling a concerned one at Evaline. "Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Of course," Evaline said, dancing out of the way of Steve's grip as she put her hand on the car handle. "Just tired, excited to go home and sleep a bit."

Steve stepped toward her again, his eyebrows furrowed fully on his head as he nearly choked out, "Eva…"

"Good luck on your op, guys," Evaline said before she got into her car and locked the door behind her. Steve moved toward the car as if to stop her, but Evaline leaned forward and told the agent, "Please, step on it."

He did as she asked, and when she turned, she saw Steve growing smaller in the distance, his look of surprise still etched on his face and heartbreak still burning in her chest.


	13. Chapter 13

Over the next few days, while the team was dealing with some Japanese gangsters and a robotic, alienated version of Godzilla, Evaline both enjoyed and despised having the Tower mostly to herself. The issue in itself was that her only companion, besides Friday the AI, was Scott Lang, who had been busy babysitting his daughter when the original call for help went out. As his daughter had gone back into his ex-wife's custody, he was trying and failing to distract Evaline from the news of what mess their team had gotten into in Tokyo.

Still, that didn't mean she wasn't gathering every piece of information she could whenever she had the chance. She quickly became adept at using the Stark brand phones, tablets, and computers that Tony had furnished the Tower with, and even began playing with the holographic screens they all seemed well-trained on. That adventure was short-lived however, after she set off some alarm and Friday the AI ended up only being able to speak in Mandarin until Scott intervened on her behalf.

There were multiple times during the few days that Steve and the team were away that Evaline would wake up in the middle of the night from a dream that began with her and Steve kissing again, all of them ending in different, horrible ways. It didn't help that despite the lack of his physical presence in the Tower, his virtual one was still rampant. Evaline couldn't help but watch the footage of the fights going on in Tokyo, and it led to watching far more videos of past fights: the ones again the Chitauri in New York, Ultron in Sokovia, Hydra in D.C., and more. Besides the videos and clips she watched about Steve, he himself would appear on her phone from time to time, in the manner of a few wayward texts and missed or ignored calls from him.

 _Hey. Looks like we're going to be in Tokyo for a while, cleaning up the streets and whatnot. Can you call me?_

 _I'm free now, and I'd really like to talk to you._

 _Eva, we need to talk. Please call me._

There were a couple of other texts from other members of their team, including ones from Natasha and Wanda encouraging Evaline to give Steve a call, although they admitted they didn't know the entirety of what had gone down between them in Times Square. Even a single one came from Tony, begging Evaline to text Steve so he would stop being so tense in the fights and clean-up that followed.

She ignored them all.

After awhile, she felt like Scott had partially been purposefully left behind almost to babysit her, as he seemed to appear in whatever part of the Tower she moved to. He cooked her dinner every night, either somehow cornering her into the kitchen with him, talking her ear off about jobs he had pulled as a former thief or projects he had worked on as an engineer; or he brought the food to her room if she was trying to hide from him. He was actually an incredible cook, for some reason specializing in Asian cuisine, but Evaline couldn't help but feel he was trying a little too hard to entertain her.

When he first offered to begin helping her train to pass the time during the day and keep her skills honed, she figured his instruction would have nothing on Steve or Natasha's, but she was proven wrong. Evaline was slowly learning that every member on their team had a very specific style of fighting, and she had assumed that Scott's, without his mechanical suit, would be less rigorous and structured than the members of the team who relied on their own bodies to provide their so-called superpowers. On that fact, she was also proven wrong, as Scott was actually well-trained in a few different forms of martial arts, and was a more patient instructor than either Natasha or Steve.

She woke up every morning those few days with her body sore from the work out the day before, but also ready to head into another day of training. Not only had she begun to feel her muscles and her body beginning to respond in a more natural way that boosted her confidence, but it also acted as a proper distraction from thinking about Steve's eventual return home and the inevitable fallout that would occur from her actions before his departure.

When she made it to the gym, she was by herself, and she called out to the empty space, "Friday, play Scott's workout playlist."

"Playing Scott Lang's workout playlist," Friday repeated in her animatronic voice, as a strange mixture of 80s rock and 90s hip hop blasted out over the speakers and Evaline began to stretch.

Only two songs passed before she heard the door to the gym open and Scott's voice called out, "Honey, I'm home!"

"Over by the free weights!" she shouted in response, continuing to stretch until Scott's tennis shoes came into her line of vision. Still reaching down toward her toes, she lifted her head and glared at him playfully, saying, "You're late."

He scoffed, throwing a hand over his heart in offense. "I'm not late. You're simply early."

Although he was right, in that Evaline had arrived about ten minutes prior to their usual scheduled time, she just grinned at him and said, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just get started."

Over the next few hours, they went through a whole series of stretches and poses of some mysterious form of martial arts that Evaline still didn't know the name to. Every time she asked Scott, he always commented that if he told her, he would have to kill her after. At first she thought it had been a joke, but the longer she knew him and the more she realized just how effective of a fighter he was, she wondered if he could actually be telling the truth.

After they went through training, Scott basically let her try to beat him up as they went toe-to-toe in hand-to-hand combat. Maybe it was because she had spent numerous hours with him alone over the last few days so she had developed a recognition of his fighting patterns, or maybe she actually was becoming more of a skilled fighter, but she could tell she was starting to actually be a tiny but present challenge to him.

They sparred for a whole hour before Scott finally pulled back, rubbing his shoulder and wincing at the bruise that was surely blooming from the hit Evaline had landed on him just a few minutes prior. "I think that's enough for today. I need to go lay in bed and ice this, and my ego."

Evaline smirked at him, saying, "I thought you had to have actual fighting abilities to have an ego to develop."

"Oh, ha-ha," Scott said flatly, although a smile was threatening to turn the corners of his mouth as well. "You just got lucky with that last shot. Don't go getting too cocky on me. We don't have any more room for attitude on the team, as we already get plenty with Tony, and… well, just Tony, really."

This earned an outright laugh from Evaline, still a rare enough sight that she didn't miss when Scott startled a little bit as she did so. While he relaxed, smiling more at the sound of her laugh, she sat on one of the workout benches they had scattered throughout the gym, grabbing her phone from beside her. Her joy came to a quick end as she lost her smile, her eyes heavy on her phone screen.

A message was blinking on it from Steve.

 _We're almost home._

It was a simple message, but Evaline read through the layers and context of Steve's implications. What the text really registered in Evaline's mind as was _I will be standing physically in front of you in a few minutes, and you will not be able to ignore me then. Prepare yourself._

As she thought about what she would say to Steve about the last time they had seen each other, about what excuse or reason she could make up, Scott's voice interrupted, echoing distantly in her mind as it asked, "Evaline?"

She bounced out of it, turning her attention back to Scott again as he watched her with a concerned expression, his eyebrows furrowing. Carefully, he asked, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just…" She trailed off, eyeing his genuinely concerned but patient expression, wondering if she should come right out and tell him the truth. After a few moments of contemplation, she decided to just say simply, "The team should be here pretty soon, I think."

Although he continued to look confused for a few extra moments, suddenly realization dawned on Scott's face as his expression cleared, and he said, "Well, that's good, then. Right?"

It was a horrible attempt to ask Evaline what was wrong, but Evaline appreciated the lack of intrusiveness in the question. Scott was leaving it up to her to open up, by allowing her either the opportunity to act oblivious and pretend she wasn't aware he knew what was going on in her mind, or just to open up to him.

Reaching behind her to rub out a muscle spasming against the center of her back, Evaline didn't meet his eyes as she said, "Honestly, Scott… I don't know. I know I need closure, or whatever, about this situation. But there are so many moving factors to it, and it's hard to even know what all of them are without having to worry about how they all fit together, too."

A few moments of silence ticked between them as Scott watched her carefully, patiently before deciding she was done for the moment explaining her emotions, and he stepped in instead.

"I don't know if you remember, but I have a daughter," Scott said gently, his eyebrows furrowing together in the middle of his forehead like he himself couldn't believe it. "Her name's Cassie. She's six, and a perfect example of all that is right with the world. I began this whole… crusade, if that's what you want to call it, because I wanted to prove to her that I could do and be something better. And although she always sees this hero side of me, and loves me so much, it's hard when I have to miss a recital or a party or normal dad duties because I'm out being Ant-Man instead.

"What we do is incredibly hard, and sometimes, our personal lives suffer for it, because like you said - it's hard to manage all those pieces and make them all work together as one conducive unit," Scott said honestly, his eyes meeting hers heavily as she read some sort of sorrow in his expression, something she never thought she'd see coming from Scott Lang. He shook his head in whatever pity he saw reflected in her expression, saying, "What we do is also incredibly exciting and rewarding, but sometimes… it's a lot. Too much, even. You need to find that balance and master positioning yourself on the tightrope between the two areas. It won't be easy, but it's… it's worth it."

Evaline bowed her head, wiping away a droplet of sweat that threatened to slip into her eye and blind her, and also keeping her eyes away from Scott as she realized that he knew exactly what - and who - she was alluding to. "I wish it were that easy to let it happen. You know Cassie, and she knows you, and you two know that you love each other. But that's my problem, is that I don't know."

Pressing his lips together, Scott stayed sagely quiet for a few moments before saying quietly, "I think you know more than you think, but you're afraid."

Trying not to be offended, Evaline all but sputtered, "Excuse me?"

"I'm not the neuroscientist, or the doctor, or the biologist of this team. I'm not even the best engineer," Scott said easily, point-blank, as he met her eyes. "I know that they're - that we're - all worried that one wrong thing is going to set you off. We don't know why you don't remember your past or who you were, and we're afraid your mind is like a minefield and one wrong step will make everything explode. Well, I say… fuck that."

Now Evaline did sputter as she asked in surprise, "What?"

"You heard me," Scott said, still kind but also impassioned by what he was saying. "I said, fuck that. You told us yourself that you're not made of glass, but if you want us to believe that - you've got to show it. You've got to put yourself out there and go for what you want, or what you need, and not let some possible threat of a coma-inducing event, or a fear that you're a different person now, scare you from doing so."

Evaline grumbled, "I think those are pretty good deterrents, though."

"I'm not saying don't tread at least a little cautiously," Scott amended, "but I think you need to be more proactive and aggressive with finding the pieces of you that you can. Because before you move forward - with anyone or anything - you need to be comfortable in yourself first. And while I think you're still a while away from that happening… sometimes you've got to lean on others to help you along the way, too."

Standing from the bench, Scott put out his hand to help her up as he said, "You've got to figure it out, Kaeser. I know that sounds abrasive, and it's simplifying matters a bit, but sometimes you have to break it down to that level to understand it and conquer whatever it is you're so afraid of."

She hesitated, letting his words sink in and register before she sighed, putting her hand in his as he helped lift her from the bench. As she did so, she tipped her head curiously to the side, eyeing the hero known to many as Ant-Man. Although the last few weeks had made her believe that he was one of the class clowns of their team, the side of Scott Lang she had seen over the last few days was new and surprising, in the best way.

"Thanks, Scott," she said, giving him a small but genuine smile that seemed to take him off-guard before he returned the gesture.

"Anytime," he said honestly, grinning at her.

Interrupting the moment of the two of them connecting, Friday called out over the intercom, "Team Alpha will be arriving in T minus 2 minutes."

Scott scoffed, saying, "I hate how she says 'Team Alpha' like I'm the only one that isn't on it. Most of those guys are on Beta Team with me, too - they just happen to be helping out Alpha."

Laughing, Evaline clapped a hand on his shoulder in consolation as the two of them began walking toward the Quinjet landing pad at the side of the Tower. "I don't think Friday means any insult by it. And anyway, it's not about which team is better, from what Fury told me. He said Beta Team is the one used more for covert or long ops, whereas Team Alpha is the one used for a full frontal assault. They're the meatheads, and you're the brains."

Beaming at the comparison, Scott laughed as he said, "Yeah, you're saying that because you're also part of Team Beta."

Although it was a small piece of information that Scott shared without barely thinking, the comment had both of them freeze. Scott winced, saying slowly, "Or, you were. I'm sorry, Eva…"

"No, no," she said quickly, absolving his guilt with a quick shake of her head. "I agree with what you said, and… and I don't want you all tiptoeing around me. I know Strange and Bruce are paranoid that one wrong memory revival is going to send my brain into a cataclysmic event or whatever, but I need to remember my old life, and the only way that's going to happen is by you guys telling me what happened during it, and by me accepting who I was and who I am."

Scott's face softened as he nodded once, a rather paternal and proud smile pulling at his mouth. It looked as if he was about to say something more, but they turned toward the set of doors that opened up onto the Quinjet's landing pad and saw they were not alone to welcome the heroes home. Fury was standing in the doorway, his back to them as he looked out toward the sky and the Manhattan skyline that stretched out in front of them. The pair of them walked up to the director, flanking him as Scott saluted and said, "Director."

Fury rolled his good eye toward him, narrowing it a little bit. "Lang. Kaeser."

Evaline simply nodded once at him before they saw the Quinjet blink into existence in the sky, lowering itself down steadily toward the landing pad. The engines began to shut off one by one, although they were nearly soundless to start with, and the trio stood in silence as the jet finally settled at home.

The cargo door to the Quinjet opened, and the heroes poured out, looking a little exhausted and worse for wear. Most of them were in their uniforms still, or at least semi-destroyed versions, such as Vision's golden cape being slightly singed. Only Tony, Rhodey, and Bruce wore normal clothes, probably for no other reason than they had no other options.

Easily, Evaline's eyes found the one person she was looking for, although he was toward the back of the group. Steve was wearing his full Captain America ensemble, complete with the mask and cap, although his jaw strap was unbuckled. His eyes locked with Evaline's as soon as he came off of the Quinjet, and he quickly reached up to tug off the helmet of sorts he was wearing, leaving his blonde hair sticking up in wild tufts that Evaline wanted nothing more than to reach over and flatten with the palm of her hand.

Just as he stepped forward to open his mouth, presumably to say something about the last time they had seen each other, Fury's stern voice called out from behind them, "Rogers, Kaeser, Stark, Banner - with me."

Steve and Tony both threw Evaline a curious look, but she shrugged, just as confused as they were to why they were being beckoned by the director. The rest of their team - most especially Wanda and Scott - watched their group carefully as they followed Fury out from the main part of the building into one of the various hallways.

They walked into a separate debriefing room, and with the change in lighting, Evaline noticed now that Steve and Tony were far more beat up than she had originally realized; Bruce, meanwhile, simply look exhausted but untouched. Steve, in particular, looked the worst; he had a variety of bruises and cuts blooming across his face. Evaline took a couple of steps toward him, but as he turned toward her to watch her movement, she found herself stopping, her hand halfway reached out to him.

He frowned as she let her hand drop to her side and faced forward again, ignoring her want to touch him and categorize his injuries. As the tension tightened between the two of them again, she could of sworn she spotted Tony rolling his eyes in her peripheral vision.

Instead of commenting on what even Evaline recognized as their juvenile behavior, however, Tony turned toward Fury and asked, "What you'd summon us for? I don't heal as quickly as the other two, and I'm feeling a little rough after the days-long excursion we just went on in Tokyo, so I'd really like it if…"

In answer, the door they had entered through just moments ago opened again, shutting Tony up. Both Evaline and Steve turned quickly, the latter relaxing as soon as he obviously recognized the figure who walked in, although it took Evaline a second to place them.

It was Fury who finally confirmed it for her, his voice calling out from behind Evaline as he said, "Agent Kaeser, this is Maria Hill. She's essentially my second in command."

Evaline didn't miss the pang of sadness that crossed over Maria's face as the agent eyed her, a hallmark of the people who had once been close to her realizing now how far apart they were.

Maria put out her hand to Evaline staunchly, saying stiffly, "Nice to meet you."

Taking the hand, Evaline said carefully, "We were friends in my old life, weren't we? I'm sorry I don't remember exactly, but…"

"You have nothing to apologize for," Maria said quickly, shaking her head as a flash of anger, directed somewhere else besides at Evaline, crossed her face. After a blink, however, it was gone, as Maria said, "That's actually why we brought you here, however."

Letting her eyebrows furrow in confusion, Evaline asked, "What do you mean?"

"We think we finally have a lead on whatever mystery has managed to circle around you," Maria said, using a remote to click on the projector as what looked like a DMV photo popped onto the screen. Evaline and Steve both turned to look at the screen, and it took Evaline a second to realize that she recognized the face the looked back at her.

The picture was of Luke.

"Wait," Evaline said quickly, standing up from the stool she had taken a seat on as she stepped closer to the screen and closer to Luke's picture, feeling her heart race in her chest. "I know him."

A wave of tension swept over the room, but Bruce was the one to stammer out, "You - you do?"

"Yeah," she said, continuing to move closer to the screen and narrowing her eyes just to make sure that it was the same man, as he, like all members of this reality, differed slightly from the version that she remembered from her own world. First and foremost, he wasn't wearing his trademark tortoise shell glasses that Marley and Evaline had made fun of him relentlessly for upon first purchasing them in a vain attempt to align with hipster fashion. Second, his hair was lighter in this world than in the old one. And third, but most important, Evaline realized that his chest was emblazoned with a S.H.I.E.L.D symbol over his heart, marking him as at least an agent for the spy organization.

Despite the differences, she knew that this was supposed to be Luke, so she nodded her head and said, "His name is Luke Harrington. He was one of my best friends and one of my roommates back in… back in my world."

She didn't miss the fact that Steve seemed to bristle a little bit at the idea of another male being her roommate, and she definitely didn't miss the fact that Maria shot Fury a concerned look that set off her internal alarms. Carefully, she asked, "Why? What's happened?"

Fury and Maria maintained eye contact between themselves, almost seeming as if they were internally warring with who had the responsibility of answering Evaline's question. Fury finally sighed, seeming to accept the role, and their group turned simultaneously toward the director for answers before Tony demanded, "Well? Who is he, really?"

Fury met Evaline's eyes directly with his only working one, his face stoic as he said, "Ostensibly, he's the man whose blood was on your hands when we found you in the forest a few weeks ago."


	14. Chapter 14

Evaline felt her heart drop to her stomach as she barely whispered, "What?"

Sensing that Fury was about to simply repeat what he had just said, with little to no empathy, Maria cut in, saying, "We've been running tests ever since you came back with that blood on your hands, but we ran into some issues we couldn't seem to solve, for one reason or another. We just got back these results, and it seems that the blood on your hands belongs to Luke. He's an agent of ours, located in D.C. He just works communications - translating messages, supervising tech, that kind of thing - and to our knowledge, you two have never crossed paths in a major way in this world."

Steve was the one to ask Evaline gently, "Do you know why you would hurt him?"

Grateful that he didn't imply that she had killed him like Fury had, Evaline shook her head. "I don't. You would think, if anything, I'd be less inclined to hurt him than anyone else in this world, because I would recognize him from my… past life, or whatever. All the memories I have of him are from that world, and they're all good. He was like family to me."

His expression softening even further, Steve opened his mouth to say some platitude, no doubt, to apologize for the apparent loss of that connection. However, Tony stepped forward instead, his eyes locked in on Fury as he asked, "Do we know this Luke guy's last known location? Last time he checked into work, last time his girlfriend saw him, something like that?"

"The last time anyone saw him was two days before Evaline's… episode in the woods," Maria said as carefully as she could, although even Evaline caught the slight wince that contorted her face. She turned back to the screen, bringing up a file on Luke that opened up to various pictures and documents, as she began giving a report on him, saying, "Last known location was his apartment, the night of Thursday the 17th, at 8:00 AM by his live-in boyfriend…"

As Evaline tried to keep her focus on the presentation, the whole room began swimming in front of her as her brain began to overload on information. Just as gray was beginning to tinge the edge of her vision, she felt someone's hand quickly reach out to the small of her back, bracing her as a voice said insistently, "Eva!"

"I just… I need some air. Excuse me," Evaline said pulling away from Steve's touch and quickly exiting as she made a beeline for the living room. She raced right through it, toward the doors leading out to the balcony, grateful that the rest of their team had cleared out and gone off to their respective rooms to shower and sleep.

She stood at the edge of the railing, leaning on it for support as she felt her head begin to clear despite the fact that she was leaning over Manhattan from nearly 100 floors up in the sky. Gripping the banister to steady herself, she tensed further as she heard a quiet voice ask from behind her, "Eva. Are you okay?"

Squeezing her eyes shut for a few moments to gather her thoughts and her strength, she turned toward Steve, whose blue eyes were wide and concerned, catching every bit of the city's night lights in them. Somehow, his anxiety helped decrease hers a little bit as she intoned, "I may have killed one of my best friends, Steve. Do you think I'm okay? Do you think I _should_ be okay?"

"No," Steve said, his eyes and mouth turning down at the corners, his pain at seeing her sadness practically tangible. He took a few more steps toward her, saying, "I think you should be the very opposite of okay, but you're still standing, somehow."

"Please," she said as she laughed bitterly, shaking her head. "Please don't talk about how strong I am or whatever words are forming in your mind right now to make me feel better. I literally feel like I'm about to drop to the floor right now, so I just… I just can't stomach those false words."

She felt the tears beginning to leak out of the corners of her eyes, and she tried to turn away, embarrassed by them. Instead, Steve took a series of quick steps toward her, reaching out to hold her face in the palms of his hands as he wiped away her tears and she froze. His eyes were wide, tortured, as he held her gaze and whispered, "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say to fix this, all of this."

She looked up into his eyes, seeing her image reflect in the irises as her hands slowly reaching up to touch his forearms. His eyes threatened to lock onto hers, but instead she lowered her own, shaking her head as she admitted, "I don't know, either. I think if either one of us did, we'd be saying it."

Sighing, Steve surprised her again by pulling her tightly into his arms, wrapping them around her body in an embrace. She was amazed at how, despite the near foot that separated them, her body seemed to fit perfectly into the curves of his.

Something about the intimacy broke down whatever wall Evaline had built to protect herself, and she felt the tears begin to flow and her shoulders begin to shake. Instead of pulling away, Steve surprised her by pulling her closer, hiding his lips in her hair as she buried her face into his chest, directly over the star emblem of his uniform.

"I'm sorry," she finally said after she managed to gain control of her tears, quickly backing away from him as she rubbed at her eyes with her forearms. She then crossed them tightly over her chest, building a physical barrier between the two of them that Steve looked tempted to break.

His voice was gentle as he said to her, "You don't have to apologize for anything."

She couldn't help but think back to the kiss she had forced on him in Times Square, but she shook it off, determined not to ever talk about that moment again with him. Instead, she distracted him by saying, "It does make me feel just a little bit better that you're just as lost as I am about this, and that you're admitting that you're not as perfect as you let on."

Giving her a self-deprecating but easy smile, Steve said, "I am nowhere near perfect."

She bit back her honest reply that she thought he was pretty damned near it, especially as his blue eyes caught the light of the skyline again. Shaking her head, she tried to refocus herself, telling him, "Well, now I am apologizing again, but for something tangible this time. You were just on this atrociously long mission and I'm sure you want a shower and your bed. I'm sorry I've been keeping you."

"Ev," he said softly, shaking his head, too. "It's no problem, really."

"It is a problem," Evaline said, giving him a gentle and thankful smile. "Thank you for lending your shoulder to cry on, Steve - quite literally - but you really need to get some rest. You look exhausted."

He paused, looking as if he was going to argue with her further, before he seemed to realize how futile his attempts would be. His eyes looked through hers to try to assess the damage underneath before he asked carefully, deeply, "Are you sure you're okay to be by yourself?"

"To be determined," she responded honestly, giving him what she hoped look like a promising smile. He looked hesitant again, so she said, "Steve, seriously. Please go to bed."

"Okay," he said, smiling gently at her in the doorway. "Goodnight, Eva."

"Goodnight, Steve," she replied, turning her back toward him instead of walking after him like she really wanted to, to feel his arms around her again and to feel his touch leech every negative feeling out of her skin.

She stayed on the rooftop balcony for about ten more minutes, her eyes closed as she leaned against the bannister and allowed for the fresh city air to wash over her. Focusing on her breathing, she tried to clear her mind of anything and everything - of Luke, of Steve, of her memories, of her last and possibly lost life - before finally finding enough peace to head to bed and fall into a relatively restless sleep.

The next morning, when she woke for good, it was closer to noon. Nightmares of Luke had kept her in a weird state of half-asleep and half-awake for most of the night, so she had added on a few more hours to her normal sleep schedule to try to make up for them.

It didn't work, but at least she could pretend she had attempted to fix the problem.

When she walked into the kitchen, she saw a note from Steve on the counter stating that the rest of them would all be at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters for the day, debriefing about Tokyo, and that they didn't expect to be back until that night. She knew even Scott had skipped out to head to the headquarters of Pym Technologies in order to pick up some new tech that was waiting for him there, so she truly had the Tower to herself.

Still, she didn't let her freedom let her deter too much from her regular routine, as she pulled on some workout clothes and headed down to the gym. As she entered, she was surprised to hear the soothing noise of the row machine running at a relatively fast clip despite the fact that she had thought she was alone.

As she rounded the corner, she saw Maria was at the rowing machine, facing away from her as the powerful muscles of her back strained underneath the workout tank she was wearing. Evaline tried to clear her throat to get the spy's attention, but she noticed she was wearing headphones and probably wouldn't be able to hear her; so instead, Evaline reached out tentatively and touched her gently on the shoulder.

Maria startled a little bit, turning quickly to face Evaline before she relaxed and tugged an earbud out. "Oh, hey! Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone else to be here."

"Me neither," Evaline admitted, noting that Maria was nearly drenched with sweat. "Been here a while?"

"A few hours," Maria said, earning a pair of raised eyebrows from Evaline that she responded to with a tired smile and a roll of the eyes. "It helps relax me. I was in meetings early this morning with some international assets and I had to put out some fires I wasn't ready for. I needed the distraction."

"I feel you on that front," Evaline said, taking a seat at one of the leg press machines next to Maria as she fiddled with the settings, making it lighter as she was probably still the weakest person in the Tower.

She climbed into the convoluted set up, placing her feet against the black board facing toward her as she said to Maria, "I find this is one of the few things that truly lets me drop everything else in my mind and focus. I'm too exhausted stretching or running or lifting or whatever to let my mind spin out."

Maria watched her silently for a few reps before she told Evaline thoughtfully, "I know what we would have done if this was all… normal."

Evaline gave her a wary but curious look, stopping in the middle of her leg press as she asked her, "What?"

Giving her a quick look to assess her willingness for a suggestion, Maria gave her a small smile and said simply, "We're going out tonight. Just the girls. I'll text Wanda and Natasha; they should be back by then."

Quick to shake her head, Evaline said, "I'm not really one for clubs, and I'm not sure some pulsating, gyrating techno-trash place is for me."

The fast comeback made Maria laugh, especially as she saw the near-panic in Evaline's eyes at the idea of having to go to a club. She responded comfortingly, saying, "Don't worry. The place we go is none of those things, but it still has alcohol, and that's what matters. Say we go at about nine tonight? That way Natasha and Wanda can get some rest whenever they get back."

"Are you sure they'd be up to doing it after the long mission they've just had?" Evaline asked warily.

Maria peaked an eyebrow and read right through her as she said, "You're not using their exhaustion as an excuse not to go out. I'm sure they'll be fine; they've bounced back quicker from bigger events before. You just be ready, too."

Leaning over, Maria grabbed her phone, water bottle, and towel off of the bench beside them. Evaline said, "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to kick you out of the gym, you can stay."

"I'm done anyway," Maria said with a simple smile, shaking her head to defuse Evaline's concern. "I don't like working out with an audience, and I'm sure you're the same way, so I'll leave you to it. I'll text you details about tonight once I talk to Wanda and Natasha, okay?"

"Okay, sounds good," Evaline said with what she hoped was a thankful and encouraging smile to Maria for including her in their social plans. The S.H.I.E.L.D operative she exited the gym as Evaline turned back to her own workout, focusing on the movement of her muscles and the beat of her music rather than letting her mind run wild with the possibilities of what spies and assassins did in their free time to loosen up.

After her workout, she made a simple meal and sat down to read a book, during which she received the confirmation text from Maria that Wanda and Natasha would be joining them for their night out. Following a quick text to Wanda confirming what exactly she should wear to their outing that night, as she figured that Wanda would be the most similarly dressed to her own style, Evaline returned to her room and began to prep for the night, as she saw the clock hit six. She opted for a simple pair of high-waisted black jeans, black heeled booties, and a crimson halter top that allowed for more than a little cleavage to show, then curled her hair to within an inch of its life, head-banging around her room until the curls fell loose to appear a little more natural.

When she was ready, and she saw the clock had hit nine, she grabbed her black bomber jacket before heading out the door, slinging it across the top of the small satchel purse she wore off her left shoulder. As she made her way into the kitchen, she saw the other three women of their quartet were already waiting for her, all dressed relatively similar to her in dark hues and high quality casual clothes.

Walking up to them, Evaline asked, "Where are all the boys?"

"Probably still in a comas in their rooms," Natasha said, leading the way to the elevator as the other three followed. "Sam literally fell asleep in our briefing for five minutes before Rhodey knocked out the elbow he was leaning on and his face slammed on the table. They're all feeling a little worse for wear, though."

Evaline threw a concerned look toward Natasha and Wanda. "But you two are feeling okay to go out with me? Because we can definitely put this on hold, and…"

"Oh, no," Wanda said, wrapping her arm around the crook of Evaline's elbow and halfway pulling her toward the elevator, which now stood open in front of them. "You are _not_ getting out of this. We all need this, not just you, so stop being selfish and indulge us."

Simply grinning at Wanda's response, Evaline allowed for herself to be escorted down the elevator and through the private garage at the base of the Tower to a car with tinted - and no doubt bulletproof - windows awaiting for them. As they clambered in, Maria rattled off an address as Evaline asked, "So, any more clues on where exactly we're headed?"

"It's a surprise," Wanda said with a bright smile that nearly lit up the interior of the car all on its own. "All you need to know is that this always worked to get any of us out of a dark place we were in. It's basically foolproof."

Maria threw Wanda a warning look, as if telling her that she was dangerously close to giving up vital information. The witch tried to press her lips together but failed, her smile breaking through instead and inspiring Evaline to smile as well.

The entire ride, Natasha and Wanda pretty much led the conversation, filling in Evaline and Maria on shenanigans and whatnot that had happened during the team's mission to Tokyo. Just as Evaline felt the feeling of missing out settle in her chest, their car came to a full stop and the engine turned off as the driver called out to them, "We're here."

Wanda threw Evaline another excited look before getting out of the car first, holding the door open for Evaline to follow her. As her feet hit the pavement underneath her, Evaline took in her surroundings, which looked like any city block in downtown New York. Skyscrapers still reached above them, and the building they stood in front of arched at least ten stories tall. The wall they stood in front of was nondescript, with a simple door untouched by graffiti despite the artwork that covered the wall surrounding it. Evaline looked at the simple door in confusion, as there was no sort of sign or advertisement nearby that indicated what was behind it.

Noting her slightly concerned look, Wanda grinned and grabbed her by the hand, squeezing it once as she said, "Trust us."

Wanda kept her hand in Evaline's before Maria knocked on the door, and a before-unseen slit in the door slid open at eye level. Even Evaline couldn't hear whatever Maria whispered to the bouncer, but it was obviously the right answer as the door swung open and Maria led them in, Wanda pulling Evaline by the hand and Natasha following calmly after them.

As Evaline took in her surroundings, she allowed herself to breathe again as she realized they were just in a bar, its environment comfortably between a dive bar and high-end bar. It was about halfway full with patrons, split evenly between barstool seating and the tables and booths spread throughout the room. There was a small stage at one end of the room, although currently it was empty and music was playing at an acceptable level through the speakers throughout the room.

Evaline simply followed Maria and Wanda, who was still tugging her by the hand, to the bar. Unsure of exactly what she wanted to order, Evaline made no move to push toward the front of the bar, but she didn't have to worry as Maria and Natasha pushed forward for them instead.

The bartender slinging the drinks allowed his eyes to grow wide as he saw the four of them standing on the opposite side of his bar. He was a portly, red-faced man dressed in a black dress shirt that Evaline knew probably hid the stains of many a spilled drink. A little carefully it seemed, he asked, "What can I get you ladies?"

"You know, Michel. Four tequila doubles, followed by four heavy margaritas - two strawberry, one lime, and one plain, all with salt and all with Jose Cuervo," Maria said with the ease of rattling off her own phone number, leaning her elbows on the edge of the bar and earning a quick raise of the eyebrows from Evaline.

The bar tender grinned widely, putting a hand tenderly over his chest as if Maria had just informed him that she was a Girl Scout raising money for the local dog shelter. Evaline felt her surprise morphing into curiosity, especially as the man said, "I am so glad you are back, _chetverka._ It has been months, far too many."

"It sure has, Michel. Thank you," Maria said, sliding the shot glasses toward the three other women after another bartender brought them over. She grabbed her own, then turned to her friends, saying, "What are we cheering to?"

There was a beat of silence, before Wanda said with a smile, "To being home, all together again."

"To home," Maria said, as the other three ladies echoed the sentiment, grinning at each other as they clinked their shot glasses together, hit them on the bar, and lifted them to their mouths again. It was only as the tequila was burning down her throat that Evaline recognized how easily she had just called this place her home - and how much she had actually meant it.

When a third bartender brought their margaritas, Evaline seamlessly grabbing for one of the strawberry-flavored drinks as Natasha took the other, Maria told them to put it on a never-ending tab that apparently Tony covered by paying for the bar, which he owned. The four of them gathered their drinks, carrying them carefully to a corner booth as they took their seats and a waiter came by to place chips and dip in front of them without any preamble.

"What the hell does 'chetverka' mean'? I wasn't sure if I should bless him or not," Evaline admitted as she chowed down on some of the lime-tinted tortilla chips in front of them, earning a smile from Maria and laughs from Natasha and Wanda.

"It means 'The Four', loosely," Natasha provided, stretching out her legs into the walkway despite the fact that heavy-set man in a bowling shirt was just seconds away from crossing her path. Somehow, however, at the last moment, he stepped right over her legs, despite requiring some fancy footwork on his part to make it happen.

Evaline lifted a single eyebrow in questioning. "'The Four'?"

"Before… everything that happened," Natasha said carefully, her eyes flickering over Evaline's face to gauge her response, "we were regulars here - always the four of us, sometimes with the guys and sometimes without. This is kind of our escape from the testosterone fest back at the Tower. We always come here whenever we need to complain about the men."

Realizing the weight of the other three women's stares were now all resting firmly on her, Evaline found a new interest in her drink as she attempted to distract them from the matter at hand by saying lamely, "So, these margaritas are pretty good…"

"Uh-uh," Maria said, pulling the glass away from her by the stem. "You are not trying to pull some lame ass excuse out of your butt to keep us from talking about this."

Opening her mouth to undoubtedly feign ignorance on whatever Maria was alluding to, Natasha beat her to it, simply stating, "Steve Rogers. Spill it."

Evaline closed her mouth, pressing her lips tightly together as she realized none of the three other women sitting at the table with her had any actual idea on what had gone down between her and Steve that night in New York.

Feeling like a schoolgirl with her first crush, Evaline even blushed a little as she admitted, "I kissed him."

Wanda, who had taken a sip of her drink, choked on it elegantly; Natasha and Maria even both lost their respective cools and gaped a little bit at Evaline, who felt her blush only growing deeper with every passing moment. When the liquid in Wanda's throat finally cleared her windpipe properly, she demanded, "What?!"

"I know, it was so stupid!" Evaline nearly shouted in response, a little bit of the pressure coming off her chest as she let go of her secret. "But ever since I woke up, I can sense that Steve and I had something, and whatever remnant of it that's left is still so strong. So we went and saw the musical, and we were talking about… life, or whatever, after, and he's looking around Times Square, and he has this open expression where he just looked totally content, and I realized… I did, too, for the first time, and it was largely because of him."

"So, you kissed him?" Wanda asked, nearly breathless.

Evaline felt herself flushing again as she said, "I don't know, there was just this… magnetic force. God, that sounds so stupid."

"No," Maria said quietly, a small smile on her face as she shook her head. "It doesn't."

Leaning forward, Natasha peaked an eyebrow as she met Evaline's eyes. "So what's the deal now? Rogers was an emo-riddled teenager almost the whole mission, so obviously it didn't end with rainbows and butterflies."

Lowering her own gaze, Evaline said, "We pulled away from each other, and he asked me if I remembered. I didn't need him to say it, because I knew what he meant: did I remember who I was, who we were. And I didn't, and I realized… he's still hoping there's some switch in me that's going to flip, that's going to revert me back to the girl he knew. And the problem is… I don't think I'll ever be the girl he fell in love with. But God, I'm falling hard for him, and I can't hit the bottom only to realize he was expecting to see someone else to meet him there."

The three girls let the sentence settle in silence for a second before Maria shook her head and said solemnly, "I think he knows exactly who you are, and who he's falling for. I think sometimes he has a hard time understanding where the old you ends and the new you begins, yes… but he also sees you for who you are now. The images might overlap more than you think, Eva, and I think Steve is verily aware of where the differences lie, too. I just think he doesn't particularly care."

"But why?" Evaline exhaled on a breath, shaking her head. "Why would he not care that I'm not the same person he knows?"

Wanda went a little cross-eyed at Evaline's reasoning, as well as a little bit of the alcohol, before she said, "Because that's how love works, Eva - especially yours and Steve's. You're making it out to be this far more complicated thing than it actually is. Just… think about it this way. Steve was frozen for, like, seven decades, and woke up at the moment and era he did so he could meet _you._ You had bad experiences with the military and more government-run agencies, so you joined S.H.I.E.L.D instead despite being ridiculously pursued by the CIA, and that brought you to him. You had a horrible accident and near-death experience, but again - in an era we had the technology to save you, and in a life where you knew the people who could. All your… faculties may not be intact, but the fact of the matter is, everything you and Steve have gone through has brought you two together. It's. That. Simple. "

Wincing, Evaline said, "Okay, I had kind of forgotten about the whole him being frozen for decades thing, so thanks for reminding me and creeping me out a little bit."

Waving her hand in the air as if to physically dispel Evaline's words, Wanda said, "I'm in love with an android, essentially. Natasha had a thing with a guy who turns into a large green monster due to radioactive exposure. Only Maria's love life is normal. Such is our way of life."

Maria grinned as she sipped her drink, the smile only widening as Natasha muttered into her own glass, "Well, I wouldn't say Maria's love life is normal in so much as non-existent…"

The S.H.I.E.L.D Assistant Director scoffed, throwing a chip at Natasha that she caught easily in her hand before stuffing in her face and grinning at her, chip crumbs between her teeth that caused all of them to break into laughter.

Finally, Maria shook her head, pushing her now-empty glass away as she said, "Well, I personally think that's enough serious talk for now, mostly because I know if we keep talking about it that Evaline is only going to back further into her black hole of denial. How about we lighten it up a little bit in here, and get Evaline distracted to boot?"

Just as Evaline was about to question exactly how Wanda thought they should go about doing that, even though her mind was focused on Steve still, she saw her eyes travel away toward the stage, where karaoke had begun, unbeknownst to Evaline in the middle of her personal crisis.

Wanda squealed with joy and Natasha groaned, saying, "Oh, no. Not this again."

"Don't pretend like you don't love it!" Maria shouted, a wide grin across her face as Natasha groaned again.

Evaline gave a wide-eyed look between all three of them before Wanda leaned in a little too close, the tequila readily on her breath as she stage-whispered to Evaline, "We are karaoke queens. Or were. Well, I guess we still are, but…"

"What she's trying to say," Maria cut in with an entertained smile, "is that we have performed many an encore on that stage, and I think the fates have aligned to provide us with that opportunity again tonight."

Evaline's voice was low as she shot a fugitive glance around the bar and asked, "Shouldn't we be cautious about taking the stage? I mean, maybe not Wanda necessarily, but… Maria and Natasha, you two are covert ops. What if some video gets posted somewhere or something?"

Grinning as Wanda giggled, Natasha rolled her eyes. "This is a S.H.I.E.L.D-sanctioned bar, Ev - created by Tony for spies in our organization."

Now that Evaline took a closer look around the bar, she noticed that the bar did seem to be bereft of the usual beer-bellied, wide-hipped patrons that most were, and that the four of them were getting some wide-eyed looks from around the room that she recognized, strangely, as respect and appreciation rather than ogling.

Wanda grinned widely, her eyes going a little unfocused as the tequila hit her system. "See! You have no more excuses to give us to not get up on that stage."

"Uh, how about the fact that I can't carry a tune to save my life?" Evaline asked with wide eyes, especially as a burly-looking male climbed up onto the stage to sing Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' while his group of friends hooted with laughter and filmed him.

"You just need some liquid courage to convince you otherwise," Natasha said, nudging the margarita glass closer to Evaline, then jerking her chin in her direction as she gave her a devilish smile. "Drink up, lady."

Following a moment's hesitation, Evaline grabbed the margarita and downed the rest of it in one sitting as Natasha, Maria, and Wanda all screamed and chanted her name and the night began to blur.

After several rounds of alcohol and karaoke, cheered on more likely due to their looks rather than their talent, Evaline thought she had learned more about her new group of her girlfriends that she probably would have ever otherwise. She found out Maria was a bonafide rapper, as she covered Busta Rhyme's 'Look At Me Now' and matched every word despite being three margaritas under; that Wanda was fluent in French as well as Sokovian, Russian, and English as she sang some obscure Eurotrash pop song; and that Natasha, as dark as she pretended to be, had an obsession with 90s pop as she brought down the house and the night with Backstreet Boy's 'Bye Bye Bye'.

True to her assumptions, she and Wanda proved to be the lightweights of the group, despite the fact that they had all drunk relatively evenly except for Maria, who was the Designated Leader of their group and had stopped about three shots ago to maintain her wits. Natasha seemed a little more loose, but not by much. It was Wanda who had almost completely lost it, and Evaline felt herself getting there as she finally called it quits, her anxiety about Steve almost completely numbed at this point.

Maria called a car to come pick them up that took them back to the Tower, dropping them off in the subterranean garage as they took the long elevator ride up. Normally, the speed of the elevator didn't bother Evaline, but considering her stomach was full of bar food and tequila, she quickly took a seat in the corner of the elevator and placed her head between her knees to keep everything from exiting out through her mouth.

When they stepped out of the elevator, Maria and Natasha turned toward the hallway on the left that led to their rooms, while Evaline and Wanda turned to where their rooms were on the right. Maria gave the latter pair a wary look with an entertained smile as she asked, "Can you two make it safely back to your rooms, or do you need an escort?"

"We got this!" Evaline whisper-yelled confidently, her arm tightly around Wanda's waist as the Sokovian held her the same way. "Goodnight, Maria and Nat! Thanks for the fun!"

Natasha just rolled her eyes again and turned to her room, while Maria at least watched them walk all the way into their hallway before escaping to her own room as well. Meanwhile, Evaline stumbled in the hallway, earning a round of laughter in response from Wanda, before grabbing the doorknob to her room and essentially slamming the door open, catching it at the last moment so it didn't hit the wall.

As she stepped through the doorway, she paused for a second, recognizing something felt off about the room. Looking around, she spotted the lift bench in one corner, the framed newspaper clippings on the wall dating back decades before she was ever born, and then the shirtless body that sprung up into a sitting position in what was supposed to be her bed as a bleary voiced asked, "Eva?"

She realized a moment too late the problem.

It wasn't her room.

"Shit!" Evaline yelped, earning an even further surprised and confused look from Steve as he started to push back covers, revealing he was wearing at least a pair of sweats. Evaline couldn't help but feel partially disappointed, especially as a continuously giggling Wanda yanked her by her arm out of the room and back into the hallway, Evaline shouting behind her helpfully, "Sorry, Steve!"

"Yeah, don't worry - she'll be back another night!" Wanda yelled behind them before shutting the door on a thoroughly confused Steve as Evaline screamed in horror and embarrassment, earning another round of laughter from Wanda that was so loud, another door in the hallway opened.

Sam, his eyes half-open either due to sleep deprivation, annoyance, or a combination of both, asked in a dangerously low voice, "What is going on out here?"

"None of your business, Samuel Wilson!" Wanda shouted, indiscriminately and unapologetically loud as her Sokovian accent grew heavier. She pushed Evaline into her own room, hanging onto the doorjamb for just a second as she whisper-yelled, "Next time, I'll let you get into bed with him. Goodnight, Eva!"

As Wanda was closing the door, she heard Sam ask in surprise, "What the hell, Wanda?"

All Evaline could hear as a reply was another one of Wanda's giggling fits, then the open and slam of what she presumed was Wanda's bedroom door. Stupidly, Evaline stood in the middle of her room for a few minutes, trying far too hard to try to remember her nightly routine: wipe off her make-up, brush her teeth, wash her hands, take out her contacts, and go to sleep.

When she fell asleep, her dreams were full of shirtless Steve Rogers - and she found she never wanted to wake back up again.


	15. Chapter 15

When she woke in the morning, she was sure she had suffered another head injury due to the short-term amnesia and crushing headache she was suffering from. However, as her memories of the night prior began to filter back in, she realized she had no one to blame but herself - and perhaps Natasha, Maria, and Wanda for pressuring her to drink as much as she had.

Stumbling across her room, she brushed her teeth vigorously and threw on her glasses, knowing her eyeballs were far too dry for contacts thanks to the dehydration the alcohol had left her with. Her hair went up into a sloppy bun and she actually deigned to put on some pants, since she had apparently decided the night before she hadn't needed any for the night of sleep ahead of her. Eyeing herself in the mirror, and feeling the goosebumps covering her flesh, she decided to throw on a heavy navy cardigan to make herself look somewhat put together and warm her up a little bit for her trek to the kitchen.

As she arrived, she saw that there was only one person to contend with that morning, although she almost froze and turned back around when she saw who it was. However, she failed to do so; the figure turned toward her, a towel over his left shoulder and a frying pan in his right hand, as he grinned and called, "Morning, sunshine!"

Simply groaning in response, she still shuffled across the remainder of the flooring before she hit the counter, taking a seat in one of the barstools and proceeding to nearly fold in up on herself. She crossed her arms, placing them on the edge of the island before slamming her head down on top of them, as if she could smack her headache out. Feeling something cold and ceramic touch her arm, she looked up to see her companion had slid her mug of coffee to her.

"God bless you, Steven Rogers," Evaline moaned as she nursed the mug close to her chest and sipped right from the brim, ignoring the feeling as it lit up all of her tastebuds. "I know you move faster than the normal human, but the speed with which you prepared this is truly amazing."

Steve had turned to face her, his back against the edge of the countertop as he grinned and took a sip of his own coffee. "I figured from your appearance last night that you'd be needing it this morning, so I kept a fresh pot ready for you."

Evaline flushed red, the memory of seeing him shirtless in bed coursing through her neurons, before hiding her face in her crossed arms on the island. "Ugh. I'm so sorry, Steve."

"Hey, trust me, I wish I had more stories like that," Steve said, taking another sip of his coffee until Evaline lifted her head and cocked it in curiosity, although it more so lolled to the side as her body hadn't quite woken up enough yet to have that much control over her muscles. "You know, with the whole super soldier thing… my metabolism is too quick to let me get drunk."

"Oh, that can't be so," Evaline said doubtfully, earning a challenging quirk of the eyebrow from Steve. She relented, saying, "Okay, it might be _harder_ for you to get drunk, but it's not impossible. We've just got to get creative."

Steve smirked. "We do?"

"We do," she reiterated, nodding her head firmly as Steve's smile grew even wider. "Maybe you need to drink a whole handle of tequila, or have Bruce and Strange cook up something for you in their Lab of Mayhem and Mystery. If you all could keep me in a coma despite my injuries, I would bet good money that we can find an answer to your problem."

His laugh echoing wildly throughout the kitchen, surprisingly not setting off Evaline's headache, Steve said, "Is that the best use of our resources?"

Shrugging, Evaline lightly swiveled on the bar stool she had been sitting on, stopping abruptly as her stomach revolted at the movement. "Hey, you need a way to relax and forget about everything for a little bit in order for you to be fully functional - and alcohol is a good way to do that. I'd say that that is reason enough."

She didn't miss as the smile fell from Steve's face, his voice quiet and now reserved as he asked, "Is that why you went out last night? To forget?"

Diverting her own eyes down toward her mug of coffee, she responded, "I just needed to shut it all off for a little bit, and not think about the fact that I'm apparently a trained spy-slash-assassin with an ambiguous past. Last night, I just needed to be… me."

Steve watched her carefully as she took a bigger gulp of her coffee, the steam from the drink fogging up her glasses as she cussed, breaking whatever somber spell had come over her and Steve as she said, "Damn. Now I remember why I don't wear these as often."

"I missed your glasses," Steve admitted, turning his back to her so she couldn't read his face as he spoke the simple, tender words. Still, she could literally feel her pupils dilating with emotion at the simple sentence, and the simple connotation it had.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to question the meaning behind his sentence, and perhaps begin the conversation she should've started a long time ago, an alarm bleated from both of their phones. Steve turned from the counter, each of them giving the other a questioning look as if they had the answer readily available as to why they were both being summoned, before he pulled his phone out of his pocket and Evaline did the same.

A group message that was no doubt encoded to within an inch of its life popped up from Strange, reading simply, _Video call, Channel CXZ7HS, 5 minutes._

As Steve reached over to the main island in the kitchen without preamble and pulled up the holographic tablet above the granite countertop, another message popped up from Tony. _Good morning to you, too, Strange One._

On the screen, it showcased the various members of their team in different settings as they all popped up within the next five minutes. Strange and Banner were obviously in their basement lab at the complex in upstate New York, joined by Vision in the background; Rhodey, Tony, Scott, and Sam were outside somewhere, all of them in their respective metallic suits; Wanda and Natasha were in their workout clothes in the gym; Maria and Fury were dressed in their business clothes, in what Evaline somehow knew was Fury's office in the S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters, although she had never visited it in this life.

Tony, whose helmet was still on but whose face mask was lifted, asked with limited patience, "Strange. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Nobody missed the glare Strange shot through the screen toward Stark, still to the point as he said, "Nitro woke up, but when we went to go interrogate him, we realized that he is having some issues with the last few weeks leading up to his stunt at the theater."

Somebody from every part of the screen began to talk all at the same time, but Steve's voice was the loudest to Evaline as he still stood right beside her. "What do you mean? Like his memories are gone?"

Apparently, his voice had also been the loudest to Bruce, who leaned in closer to the screen and said, "Yes. The last real memory he has was in hearing about the Yankees winning that game against the Blue Jays, which was about three weeks before his stunt in Boston."

"What the hell?" Sam asked, his face frustrated, angry, and confused as it took focus in his part of the screen. "Did he get a concussion or something?"

"Well, we ran some lab tests on Nitro's blood, just because we were curious about the mixture of human and Kree DNA, but we found that something in his blood matched Eva's," Bruce said carefully, allowing for the rest of them to extrapolate exactly what he meant by that sentence.

Tony was the one to voice what basically all of them were thinking at this point, asking tightly, "The drug that was in Evaline's system after her accident and after the incident in the forest… was it in Nitro's blood, too?"

"Not the same amount, but enough," Bruce admitted after a moment, nodding his head in confirmation. The words sent the rest of the team into a few moments of silence themselves, and Evaline's eyes darted across the screen as she saw the looks that her teammates shared. Maria and Fury didn't look surprised, so Evaline assumed they had already been updated to the situation before this group call; however, the rest of them looked various degrees of concerned and shocked.

Evaline broke the silence, her voice so quiet it even surprised her as she asked, "What does that mean?"

"It means that Nitro likely got the same weird mind-swiping drug that you did, which means we have more samples to pull from and test, and another subject to run exams and whatnot on," Bruce said, nervously blabbering as Strange shot him an annoyed and stern look. Wincing, Bruce spoke slower as he admitted, "But really, the reason we're making this a group call is because… it means that we can test the Wakandan drug on him."

Another long, stretch, tight moment of tension stretched over their group. Natasha's voice rang out from her corner of the screen first, flat and a little impatient as she stated, "That still doesn't explain why you're calling all of us. Just give him the drug and let us know how it goes."

Evaline was surprised by the brusqueness of Natasha's statement as she herself spit out, "Wait, what?"

"What are you confused about?" Natasha asked, giving her an honestly curious look.

"The fact that you think it's okay to simply give him a drug that hasn't been properly tested, to treat him like a lab rat," Evaline said flatly, raising her eyebrow across the screen. Natasha resumed her 'so-what' expression, needling Evaline's wavering patience as she said, "I know he's evil and everything, but… I just don't feel right testing this drug on him. What if it kills him?"

She felt Steve looking at her heavily, a slightly surprised but proud expression on his face. Meanwhile, in her corner of the screen, Natasha shrugged. "What if it does? One less villainous life we have to worry about tracking."

Tony snorted, saying, "Romanov, your Soviet spy blood is showing."

"I'm just saying," Natasha said defensively, glaring through the screen at where she could only hope Tony was watching her. "If it works, then Nitro benefits from the situation and we get to fix Eva. If not, then we know not to use it on Eva and we save her and keep looking for a cure. So what if the guy dies or gets sick or whatever? He's killed so many people. He deserves the chance to make it right by being a part of this little experiment."

Evaline's breath left her abruptly, her chest tight from the absence of it as she admonished her friend. "Nat!"

Scott spoke up, trying to shoulder in next to Tony and Sam, who were taking up the large majority of their screen. "I agree with Evaline. I don't think potentially killing the guy is something we should take lightly. Why are we not having a further discussion about this and the potential implications and consequences?"

Evaline threw a grateful look to Scott through the screen that he nodded once in response to, while Bruce spoke more democratically and firmly from his end of the line than Evaline and thought possible. "A discussion would take too long, and it would become too complicated because - and no offense - not everybody has the same training to understand and synthesize all the information at the same level. That's why we called a group meeting. Strange and I decided that the best way is to put it to a vote, because this does affect all of us."

Irritation rankling her veins, Evaline raised a hand, earning a slightly amused look from Steve beside her. "I think my vote should count for more, since you are all doing this because of me."

"That's not how democracy works, Kaeser," Tony snipped, earning another glare from her. Just as she was about to open her mouth, Tony cut her off and said, "All those in favor of doing what is right and getting Kaeser her memories back, even if it means punishing a villain who's been an annoyance for years?"

All hands raised but Scott and Evaline's; Bruce and Strange, as the scientists in charge of the project, abstained. Evaline was surprised when she didn't see a hand lift behind her shoulder, and turned to look at Steve in questioning. He was a little flushed, and he shrugged as he said, "I want you to get your memories back."

Quickly turning back to the screen to keep her betrayed look and the small tears forming in their ducts from his eyes, Evaline couldn't help but think, not for the first time, that Steve wanted the girl he had known back, not the girl who stood in front of him. She felt him take a step closer to her, felt the air move as his arm reached toward her, but his skin never touched hers as he backed away again.

Strange, on the other side of the screen, shot a glance over his shoulder before turning back to his audience saying, "We sedated him again because we're not taking our chances that the power dampening collar will hold, but we can give him the drug now as well. Hopefully, by the time you all get here, he'll be awake and we can get some answers."

"Maria and I are handling another situation at headquarters, so you'll have to do so without us," Fury said, his good eye moving away from the screen and at some unknown target behind it. "Keep us updated on how it all pans out."

Fury and Maria's portion of the screen shut off, disappearing entirely a moment later. Bruce and Strange's did the same a few moments later, without preamble, as Tony asked the rest of them that remained, "Meet at the Quinjet in 10?"

"Just let us wash off, and we'll meet you up there," Natasha said before shutting off her and Wanda's connection.

Tony peaked an eyebrow as he asked Steve and Evaline, "Do you two need to wash off, too, or… ?"

"Screw you, Stark," Evaline snapped before she shut off the screen, earning a chuckle from Steve as she stood up from the counter and made her way back to her room. Only when she was halfway across the stretch between the kitchen and the bedrooms did Steve realize that her snap back at Tony hadn't been playful - it had been serious.

His voice called out tentatively, "Eva?"

She ignored him, instead entering her room as she changed out of her pajamas and into something resembling real clothes, tearing a hairbrush through the tangled mess on her head and shoving her contacts into her eyes although they screamed in protest. When she walked back out into the hallway five minutes later, Steve was waiting right outside her door, his eyebrows furrowed in concern as he asked, "Eva? What's going on?"

"Nothing," she said, grabbing her go bag from where it was sitting by her bedroom door. She shoved it on her shoulder and then shut the door behind her, pushing past Steve and down the hallway as he quickly paced after her.

"Eva…"

"I said it's nothing, Steve," she snapped at him, feeling him freeze for a moment before he continued to pursue her.

Trailing after her in the hallway, his voice called out, "C'mon, Eva. Why are you upset?"

His ignorance wore on her finally as she whirled around to him, bringing him up short in the hallway as they almost collided. Still, Evaline glared at him as she nearly spat, "The reason I'm upset is because once again, nobody took into an account what I wanted. I know all of you think you're doing what's best for me, but I… I'm not used to all of this. If Nitro dies so I can simply get my memories back, I will never forgive myself, and I will be riddled with that guilt."

"We all know that you're not used to this," Steve said carefully, "but we are, and this might be our best chance to get your memories back to you. We're willing to get our hands dirty so that you can resume your life as it was meant to be lived, not whatever hindered version you're currently residing in right now."

Evaline shook her head adamantly, feeling the tears climbing to the edges of her eyes again. "You don't understand. I don't want you to get your hands dirty for me, I don't want you all to do anything morally ambiguous for me, I don't want any of this. And for the record, I don't think I'm living any sort of 'hindered' life right now."

"We're trying to help you, Evaline," Steve said, frustration edging into his tone as he threw out his hands to either side of his body, his blue eyes flashing dark with exasperation. "We're doing all this for you, because we want you back to normal. As much as you may not think this is a lesser life, how can you say that when you don't have your memories? Just let us help you. Why are you fighting us?"

"Because I'm not her!" Evaline shouted at him, tears streaking down her face as he came to a full stop in the hallway, his face awash with surprise. Several ticks of silence rested between them before the dam Evaline had been piling all her emotions and fears against shattered, letting them all loose at once. "Because I'm not, nor will I ever be, the girl that you love - not now, not if and when I get my memories, maybe not ever! I'm some weird facsimile and…"

Although he had originally frozen, Steve had begun taking wide steps down the hallway about halfway through her tirade. He cut her off by grabbing her by the face and pulling her lips up to his, making her sure she had suffered another head injury somehow because she forgot everything: why she had tears on her face, why she had been yelling at him, why she was in this hallway, and even her own name.

When they pulled away from each other, Evaline found she had lost any capability she had previously to speak the English language. Steve, meanwhile, pressed his forehead against hers, still holding on tightly to her face as his voice thickened with emotion and he said to her, "Please, please try to tell me again that you are not the woman I love. Because all it does is make me more hell bent on proving to you that you are, or that you can be. You've always been, and always will be, everything to me, Evaline Kaeser."

"Steve," she said, finding her voice as it broke and she took in his focused gaze, which was both stern and earnest at the same time. She shook her head, lowering her gaze and unable to stand his expression as she said, "Please. I'm not…"

"You are," he insisted, leaning down to kiss her again. He murmured against her lips, "You _are_ everything to me, and you _are_ the woman I love."

Evaline looked up into his eyes, sure that she would see him looking somewhere else, or at someone else, but his blue eyes were fixated on her green ones, and she saw that he was looking at _her -_ not just her face, or her eyes, but everything that she was, is, and could be.

This time, she went up on her tiptoes to kiss him, reveling in the feel of his lips on hers, of how right and natural it seemed. Steve kissed her back slowly, reverently, his hands firm but careful as they moved across her skin. She felt the calluses of his fingers faintly through the silk of her shirt, and felt the rasp of his breath readily on her own mouth when he pulled away, his lips beginning to move elsewhere.

Friday called over the intercom, "Captain Rogers, Agent Kaeser. The others are waiting for you at the Quinjet. Would you like me to tell them that you're otherwise preoccupied?"

Although Steve had murmured into Evaline's neck 'yes', she simply smiled and pulled away from him, calling out into the thin air, "No, Friday. Let them know we'll be right there."

Leaning over to grab her go bag from where she had let it slide to the floor, she hefted it over her shoulder as Steve did the same with his before slipping his hand into hers. Steve's pale face was still a little flushed, Evaline was pleased to see, especially as they walked up to the Quinjet launch pad and all of their teammates were staring at them.

None of them missed the fact that Evaline and Steve's fingers were interlocked, or that Steve was walking protectively in front of Evaline. Tony even bothered to roll his eyes, saying, "God, I thought it was bad the first time you two started dating, but I bet this time will be even worse."

"What will?" Evaline asked, frowning at Tony, as his behavior during the group call just minutes before still bothered her. They all climbed aboard the Quinjet, Wanda giving Evaline a wide smile and a cheesy thumbs up from where she already sat at the table in the middle of the jet, while Natasha simply smirked from her stance behind one of the pilot's chairs.

Tony had strolled back to the pilot chair, taking his seat as Sam took the co-pilot's. "Rogers' overprotective bit. It's insufferable."

Removing his hand from Evaline's, Steve reached over to hit Tony on the back of the head, earning laughter from around the jet as they all settled into their respective seats around the table, belting themselves in. For the first time, Evaline was able to do so without Natasha, Wanda, or Steve helping her; she felt like half of their time lately had been spent on the Quinjet, and she had gotten quite adept at fixing the complicated seatbelt system attached to all of their chairs for takeoff.

Steve took the seat beside her, Wanda sitting on her other side. As he took his seat, Steve shared a look with Evaline before darting his eyes toward Tony, obviously telling her to not let the billionaire engineer get to her. He said to her quietly, "He's not great at showing it, but Tony wants what's best for you."

"I don't doubt that," Evaline said, shaking her head, "but I do doubt his morality in regards to the path he wants to take. To the path all of you want to take."

Wanda leaned over, taking Evaline's hand in hers as her brown eyes flashed golden for a second, both with emotion and excitement as the Quinjet lifted off. "Whatever happens with Nitro, do not take any guilt in it. Lay it all on us - that's why we're making the hard decisions for you."

As she looked around the plane, Wanda's words finally hit home. She could see that Natasha had a clenched jaw, that Sam and Tony were quiet at the front of the plane rather than enjoying their usual banter, that Rhodey was restlessly tapping his fingers on the edge of the table. Ultimately, she could see that what they were on their way to do was upsetting her whole team, in various ways, and for various reasons.

But she knew, innately, that they were all doing it for her.

She knew Natasha, Tony, and Sam especially would just get more defensive if she tried to make a moment out of it, so she simply squeezed Wanda's hand, gave her a grateful knowing smile, and let the tension melt away as the Quinjet flew to the complex. It didn't mean she was any more comfortable with what they were actually about to do, but at least her anger against her teammates disagreeing with her had simmered a bit.

When they arrived at the complex, the entirety of their team moved to where Strange and Bruce were outside Nitro's room, having set up a miniature observation room of sorts right outside. Clapping a hand on Bruce's shoulder, Tony asked boisterously, "How's the patient doing, Doc?"

"He's recovered his memory of the last few weeks before his accident," Bruce said in wonder, his eyes wide as he shook his head in disbelief. "The drug… it worked."

They all went quiet for a second, watching Nitro through the double-mirrored glass, who was oblivious to their presence as he seemed to sleep. Sam's voice was the one to ask, "So you're saying that there were no side effects, no complications, no…"

"Nothing," Strange confirmed, nodding his head as he shot a look at Evaline. "We, of course, want to observe him for a little bit longer to see if there are some long-term side effects, but we really don't predict that happening. We've been monitoring everything insanely closely for the last couple of hours and nothing has changed even the smallest bit."

Evaline knew all eyes were on her now, waiting to see her response to the news that she could potentially get her memories back with just one drug. However, her eyes remained forward, locked on Nitro as he slept.

Quietly, she asked, "Can I talk to him? Or is he unconscious?"

"Just asleep," Bruce said, his eyes flickering to a screen above them on the wall that Evaline recognized distantly as EEG waves, having become familiar with them when seeing them in her own hospital room. "I'm sure you don't want to wait until he's awake on his own."

She shook her head, admitting, "I don't really care about his sleep schedule. We need answers, and now's a good time to get them since he's a little drugged. He might be a little more loose-tongued."

Out of the corner of her eye, Evaline saw Tony's eyebrows shoot up with surprise at her blatant statement, but she ignored the judgement. Bruce, meanwhile, gestured her toward the door with a dramatic and uncharacteristic flourish of his hands as he said, "Have at it."

She stepped toward the door, trying to wrangle in her thoughts and questions she had for Nitro, mostly surrounding whatever connection he must have to the Mystery Man that was plaguing her nightmares. As she hesitated, she felt two presences walk up on either side of her, turning to see that Tony and Steve were flanking her.

Steve stood straight and stoic, a soldier ready to be called into the battle. "Do you want us to come in with you?"

Evaline wanted so badly to say yes, but she knew that she needed to talk to Nitro on her own - both for her own peace of mind, and because she somehow knew he'd be a little less receptive with Captain America and Iron Man glaring daggers at him while Evaline tried to extract answers.

So, instead, she shook her head, saying, "I think it's better if I go in by myself."

Steve looked like he wanted to argue with her, but Tony pressed a hand to his shoulder and said, "She's got this, Rogers. Go get him, Kaeser."

Pressing his lips together and nodding once, Steve took a step away from Evaline, allowing her to make direct eye contact with Tony. She saw a streak of pride rush through his eyes, and she felt appreciation build for the engineer who had been callous but caring for her over the last few months.

He nodded once, understanding her look of gratitude, before taking a step back from the door himself as well, and allowing Evaline free reign to enter the room by herself.

And she did just that.

As soon as the door shut behind her, she took a deep breath before turning around to face Nitro, lying prone in his hospital bed. Although the breathing tube had been removed, the feeding tube had been replaced with a new one that snaked through his nose. He had more restraints on his arms and legs, this time located at his elbows, shoulders, hips, and knees instead of at just his wrists and ankles. Additionally, he still boasted the power-dampening collar around his neck that S.H.I.E.L.D had created upon first encountering the alien race of the Kree, whose blood gave Nitro his powers.

Emboldened by the restraints in place, and her team's presence at her back even though they were. still on the other side of the door, Evaline stepped into the room and let the door fall shut almost silently behind her. However, even in his drugged-up stupor, Nitro could sense the change of pressure in the air as his head rolled toward her, his eyes adjusting for a few moments before a slow, sadistic smile crossed over his face. "Agent Kaeser. I see your team still has learned nothing about negotiating with terrorists."

"Normally, we don't," Evaline admitted, taking slow steps toward him, "but we seem to be at an advantage right now. We've got drugs pumping through your system, technology dampening your powers, and physical restraints to boot. They assessed the situation and determined you weren't a danger to me right now."

The insult obviously injured his ego as the left corner of his mouth lifted slowly, sloppily, into a snarl. "Just because I'm tied up to this chair doesn't mean you're not in danger."

"True," Evaline agreed, nodding her head, "but at least I know you aren't going to internally combust, for the moment. Before your last… incident, you implied that you were ready to kind of work with me. I'm just renegotiating the terms. So… what is it you would like to tell me?"

The snarl remained as he said, "What I was going to tell you was conditional on the fact that you didn't shoot at me, but you did, so…"

"Oh, come on, Nitro," Evaline said, rolling her eyes as she leaned against the wall opposite of Nitro and crossed her arms over her chest. "We aren't the ones who shot at you. You know, and I know, we wouldn't, because of the imminent danger to the hostages. Whoever targeted you is someone who couldn't care less how many casualties that incident would claim - and I think you know exactly who I'm talking about."

She saw the intelligence spark behind Nitro's blue eyes, saw that he was thinking along the same path as she was. "I know, theoretically, who you're speaking of."

Trying to wait patiently, Evaline eyed Nitro in the silence, and he observed her carefully from his spot as well. Finally, she asked tightly, "Are you going to give us some details, or… ?"

"I want a deal," Nitro said, making Evaline's stomach plummet.

Acting braver and more confident than she felt, Evaline chuckled lowly. "If you think that you can ask for anything after murdering almost 84 people over the last several years…

"I know I won't get full immunity or anything like that," Nitro sneered, as if insulted that Evaline thought he was so stupid to ask for that. "But I do want a certain level of protection. This guy… he doesn't mess around. If he finds out you all captured me and have fixed me, he's going to find a way into your complex and kill me. I'm surprised he hasn't already."

Evaline couldn't help but shoot a quick glance over her shoulder, toward the double-sided glass. Her hope was that one of her teammates would go running to do a full diagnostic work up of the security measures they had around the complex, especially since the mystery man had already gotten through them once before.

Turning back to Nitro, Evaline asked, "Why would he want to kill you so badly?"

"So I can't talk," Nitro said, giving her a disbelieving look due to the fact that she hadn't already figured it out. "I've only seen the guy in person once, and I've never gotten a name. But I can give you a description of him, and that's dangerous information when you're trying to hide in the shadows like he is. I can also give you the location of where I met him, but I bet he's burned that location by now anyway. All I need is an agreement from you all that you'll protect me."

Evaline knew that she was in no place to authorize such a promise, but then she felt her phone buzz insistently in her pocket. She slid it out, eyeing the screen in surprise as she saw a message from Fury, who obviously had been clued in to the situation.

The message read simply: _No deal._

"I know that's probably Fury texting you, saying not to make the deal," Nitro said, another snarl on his face as he dropped the Director's name, "but he isn't in this room with us. He hasn't had this drug injected into his veins, hasn't had his memories swiped without consent. He isn't being hunted by this guy. Our goals are aligned, Kaeser. Help me help you."

She shook her head, trying to maintain control of the conversation and failing spectacularly. "Unless you want to share your information first, I'm not promising you anything."

Fixing her eyes firmly on him, she watched him internally debate the pros and cons of answering Evaline with the truth for several minutes - and that's when she knew just how serious Nitro was about the threat against his life. She had fully expected the villain to erupt into a maniacal laugh and mock her for her naivety in believing him, but the opposite had occurred.

That's why she believed him, just a little bit, when he said lowly, "Okay. How about I give you small pieces of information, and then you give me the deal, and I give you what you really want to know?"

Once again acting the part of the confident agent, Evaline scoffed, turning her back to him as she said, "I made my terms clear. If you don't want to abide by the rules that I set forth, then…"

Her hand had just reached out to the doorknob, turning it slightly to show Nitro how serious she was about leaving him behind, sure that his desperation was not that high to crumble under just her words, but also willing to try. Just as the lock clicked out of place and she cracked the door open, Nitro threw his Hail Mary, showing one of his most valuable cards.

He called out after her, "He's watching your family, Kaeser."

The Hail Mary hit Evaline right in the chest.


	16. Chapter 16

Evaline froze for a moment, letting the words settle in her brain as the implications struck her all at once. Images of the Mystery Man holding a syringe to her mother's neck, to Jeremy's, to Daria's…

The last image was enough to spend Evaline spinning, whirling back around to face Nitro as her lip lifted in a snarl. She saw a flash of panic cross over his expression but then almost immediately clear. Still, he was tense as she grabbed him by the chin, forcing his head up and his neck back, as she growled, "What did you just say?"

"I said that he's watching your family," Nitro said, his voice strained due to the fact that his vocal cords were probably pulled taut. Standing this close to him, Evaline only now noticed how drawn and pale his face was, how much oil caked the roots of his hair, and how large the bags underneath his electric blue eyes had gotten.

She felt a thrill of unweighted satisfaction course through her body as she realized how bad Nitro looked.

Ignoring her obvious assessment of his appearance, Nitro continued to talk, saying, "Obviously, he's not keeping an eye on them himself all the time, but he has one of his most trusted lackeys doing it. He's hoping that if and when the opportunity presents itself, that he'll be able to use them to get you to do most anything."

Panic was beginning to leak back into Evaline's veins, overriding the anger that was currently flooding them. "Has he made any specific threats against them yet?"

Nitro shook his head as best as he could, considering his chin was still being tightly held in Evaline's palm. "Not to my knowledge. He hasn't had any use for it, yet. But that day may be fast approaching, Kaeser."

"What do you mean?" Evaline asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Are you aware of something that is going to happen?"

Infuriatingly, Nitro lifted a weak hand to his mouth, miming zipping his lips shut, locking them at the corner, and throwing away the key. His blue eyes flashed with entertainment and malice, even now, as he said, "I think I've said enough. I'd really like that deal, please."

Just as Evaline was about to move her hands fully around his neck to strangle him, the door slammed open and she heard Tony say sharply, "Eva."

She whirled around to face him, her eyes murderous for him as well, but she realized he had come to extract her from the situation - which was probably for the best. Taking a deep breath to center herself again, she turned to Nitro and said, "We're not making you any promises. But if you decide to be a little more forthcoming, it'll only help you."

Turning, she exited the room quickly before Nitro could make some other smart ass response, moving out into the observation room where most of her teammates stood. Steve moved toward her quickly, protectively, his eyes wide with concern but his mouth still remaining shut. The rest of them also all watched her carefully, remaining politely quiet so she could have the first word about whatever had just happened.

Her mind still racing, she finally found the words she wanted as she told them all, "I want the drug."

Evaline watched as most of the surprised, questioning eyes in the group shifted to the doctors, who shared a glance before Bruce stepped forward to counter her. His voice was wary as he said, "We really should observe him for a longer period of time, see if there are any long-lasting side effects…"

"I'm through waiting for all these tests to be run and done," Evaline said, her voice still edged.

Tony perked an eyebrow and said, "Wow, now look who's joining Team Mystery Drug."

"This is no longer about the morality of whether or not we should be testing Nitro against his consent. That decision was already made without me," she responded tightly, sending a small glare Tony's way that he met with equal fervor. "Now, it's about testing it on my own body, and that is something that only I have full rights to. We know this drug works, at least partially, and like I said - I'm done waiting around. It's time for me to get my memories back."

Steve's voice was soft, careful, as he said, "Eva, if this is about your family's safety, we've got agents going to protect them right now. You don't have to make this decision to protect them."

"I'm making this decision to protect all of us," Evaline said firmly, earning another round of silence from her teammates as she met Steve's eyes, which turned a little sad at her gaze. "I'm not at full capacity, and I should be, to face whatever is ahead. And maybe, with this drug, I can remember who this man is and end it, once and for all."

Evaline didn't miss the fact that various members of the team were shooting concerned or questioning looks at each other around the circle, but it was Strange who finally broke the tense silence as he stepped forward and said, "Well, if it's what you want…"

Despite the fact that she saw Steve pressing his lips together tightly in her peripheral vision, Evaline nodded once and confirmed, "It is."

"Then we'll plan the procedure for tomorrow," Strange responded professionally. When Evaline opened her mouth to argue, he shook his head adamantly and cut her off by saying firmly, "I want to observe Nitro for at least 24 hours for any potential side effects. Give us that long, Evaline."

Although it wasn't a request, Evaline still found herself saying tightly, "Okay."

For the next twenty four hours, Evaline was restless, pacing the halls of the complex, practicing combat with Natasha and Scott, and avoiding Steve, who she knew would want to have some long and drawn-out conversation about getting the experimental drug. She somehow was successful in that matter at least, but that night, when she went to bed, she couldn't fall asleep and ended up going to watch Nitro sleep comfortably from the safety of the double-sided glass, waiting for any sign that he was having an adverse reaction to the drug.

At some point in the night, she ambled back to her bed, but lay awake for hours until she could finally get up and meet up with her team at what would become her own hospital room. Before she even entered, however, she found Steve waiting for her in the hallway. He had been pacing in the hall before she had turned the corner, and she was surprised there were no track marks under his feet.

As soon as she turned toward him, his face lifted and he closed the space between them with a few wide-gait steps until he stood in front of her, his hands automatically going to her waist. Forgetting pleasantries, he simply asked, "Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to do this for anybody else - not for me, not for your team, not for your family. You need to do this only for yourself, if you feel like you need it."

"I do need it," Evaline told him, resting her hands on his chest, her fingertips just curling around the edge of his collarbones. He looked like he was going to keep arguing with her, but she quickly cut him off by shaking her head and interrupting him to say, "Like I said, I'm tired of living these two lives, trying to remember what's real and what's not real. This is my chance to gain control of my life again."

Steve pressed his lips tightly together, obviously trying to form some sort of defensive response, but Evaline didn't give him a chance as she went up on her tiptoes instead to kiss him. He sighed against her, his arms wrapping more fully around her waist as he embraced her, keeping her body flush to his.

Finally, she pulled away, saying, "Stay with me?"

Looking offended she had thought it was even a possibility he'd leave her, Steve scoffed. "I won't be letting go of your hand the entire time."

Evaline gave him a bright smile before slipping her fingers through his and leading him to where Strange and Bruce had told her to meet them. When she walked in, she wasn't surprised to see that most of her team had already been assembled in support of her, spare Vision, who had been left behind at the Tower for defense, and Rhodey, who was on a side mission for the Air Force.

Her team peppered her with hugs and well wishes before she stepped into the actual hospital room she would be staying in, headed straight to the hospital bed that lay in the middle of it, surrounded by medical carts and monitors. As soon as she took her place in the bed, it was a flurry of activity around her. One nurse got the IV started in her arm so they could give her some preliminary medications like Tylenol and Benadryl to help decrease the chance of an adverse reaction, while another started placing electrodes on her chest and hidden in her hair as well as a blood pressure cuff around her arm. Banner and Strange, meanwhile, were conferring in low voices behind the monitor, although Evaline couldn't quite catch what they were talking about.

All in all, the preparation took about 45 minutes before Strange finally announced grandly, "Okay, we've got the medication hooked up, and you're all prepped."

Although she pretended to remain calm, the heart monitor she was hooked up to gave her away as her heart rate ticked upward. She stared directly up at the ceiling, pretending not to notice Steve's heavy, concerned gaze weighing heavily on her out of the corner of her eye as Bruce asked, "You ready, Eva?"

Taking a deep breath, Evaline tried to calm herself one last time before she said, "Yes."

Strange's voice called out from behind her, "Beginning the infusion."

Evaline wasn't entirely sure what she had expected to happen when the drug entered her system, but she felt… nothing. The most similar memory she could compare it to was when she had gone to a music festival back in college and had gotten so severely dehydrated she had to be admitted to the hospital to get intravenous fluids.

The silence and tension that surrounded them in the room practically had a pulse of its own, and she had to break it, especially as she felt all of her teammates' eyes zeroing in on her. Her voice a little dry from disuse, she jokingly cracked, "You're not giving me a placebo, right?"

"You're not getting your memories back?" Steve asked tightly, his voice already starting to lift in pitch as worry etched into it.

"She won't for a while," Bruce quickly interceded, as Evaline's eyes moved toward him. He frowned apologetically and said, "The earliest you'll start to get fully-formed memories back would be right after the drug finished. At least, that was the case with Nitro."

Steve's hand, which was resting gently on the edge of Evaline's bed, tightened into a loose fist. "So we have to wait for two hours before we see if it works?"

Wedging her fingers underneath his clamped ones, and then eventually intertwining them between his, she said gently and lightly, "I've waited for weeks to get my memories back. What's a few more hours?"

Steve tried to give her a smile to ease her anxiety, but his was laced with so much stress that it didn't do much to calm down Evaline's own nerves. But as time progressed, the medication started, and the Benadryl she had been given began to take effect, and she felt herself finally relaxing into the hospital bed, especially with Steve's hand wrapped firmly around hers.

The only reason she didn't fall asleep was because Strange insisted on taking her vitals every 15 minutes, and just as she edged toward REM sleep, the squeeze of the blood pressure cuff would bring her back up to the real world again. Still, she tried to sleep, tried not to watch the clock as half an hour, one hour, one and a half hours ticked by.

Just as Evaline was about to peek at the clock to see what time it was, a bleating alarm began blasting throughout the complex. They all froze for a few moments, the soldiers in the room perking up before Steve was the one to ask, "What is that alarm for?"

"It's a code blue alarm," Strange said, finally bouncing into action as he sprinted for the door. He shouted over his shoulder, "Bruce, you keep watch on Eva! Stark, suit up!"

Tony, who had been standing just outside of the room with the rest of the team, looked like he wanted to question exactly why he was being asked to suit up, but then decided against it, most likely due to the fact that Strange had already disappeared from their sight. The billionaire engineer ran after him, while various members of the team trickled into the hospital room. Wanda and Sam joined Steve at Evaline's bedside; Scott and Natasha, meanwhile, seemed very interested with every nook and cranny of the room.

Evaline didn't miss the fact that they were setting up a protective detail around her.

They all waited in tense silence for Strange or Stark to return and to inform them what exactly was going on, but they waited a while. As Evaline's anxiety mounted to its highest peak and the tension in the room thickened to choking, it all broke as the IV pump beside Evaline began beeping, signaling the drug was done.

Bruce unpackaged a sterile saline syringe and flushed the last bit of the medicine into Evaline's IV before disconnecting her from the tubing, maintaining verbal silence during the entire action. Just as he began to roll the IV pole away from the side of the bed, Strange bursted into the room, shouting, "Stop the drug!"

Bruce's eyes went wide, panic shooting through the irises. "It just finished. Strange, what the - ?"

Whirling behind him, Strange ordered the nurses, "Carole, get me portable EEG and EKG monitors, and run. Margo and Hanna, I want you to start prepping the crash cart with Evaline's dosages. Garrett, you handle the defibrillator and set up for intubation, and an art line if you have time."

The room had exploded into the noise the moment the words 'crash cart' had left Strange's mouth, but as the nurses sprinted to complete their tasks, Evaline's teammates - most notably Steve, Wanda, and Bruce - began badgering Strange with questions.

He snapped, shouting, "Everyone but Banner and Rogers, out!"

Natasha and Sam, especially, looked like they were about to physically fight Strange if he challenged them, but once they saw the seriousness on his expression and the panic on Evaline's, they quickly left. Evaline didn't doubt for a second they had their faces pressed to the two-way mirror on the wall of her room.

Quietly, in an attempt to keep her mood and the mood of the environment around her at a lower level of anxiety, Evaline asked, "Strange. What is going on?"

More panic rushed into Evaline's veins as she saw concern begin to etch its ways into the wrinkles and facets of Strange's face. He pinched his nose, shut his eyes tight, and took a deep breath to gather himself before resuming a normal position and saying to Evaline, "Nitro just died."

Evaline was sure she was about to die as she felt het heart stop in its chest. However, Steve was the one to ask weakly, "What?"

"He had a stroke, which progressed into cardiac arrest and respiratory distress before he flat-lined," Strange said, pressing a button on the screen behind Evaline's head as she felt the blood pressure cuff around her arm begin to tighten. His eyes moved toward hers, meeting them purposefully as he said firmly, "That will not happen to you. Everything I just demanded be done is all in preparation for a worse case scenario situation, but I - but we - are going to do everything in our power to ensure it doesn't. Do you understand, Evaline?"

"I…" Her mind was running at a million miles per hour, and she threw a lost look toward Steve, who responded with a concerned one of his own.

Strange's voice insisted, "Evaline."

"Give her a second to process what you just said," Steve snapped, his upper lip lifting into a snarl as his entire face transformed into an expression that looked totally foreign on him.

Ignoring the barb, Strange continued to eye Evaline, his voice freakishly calm and compassionate as he said, "Evaline, I know this is a lot, but I need to know that you understand what is going on here."

"Yes," she finally managed to choke out, although she wasn't sure that it was actually an accurate answer.

Strange seemed to let loose a breath she hadn't realized he had been holding before saying, "Good. Now, like I said, this is all pretty much just precautionary, and we will do everything to prevent it from happening… but in case you do lose consciousness again, who do you want to be your medical proxy, to make medical decisions for you?"

Edging into the conversation, his tone terse, Steve stated, "She already picked one."

"That was in a different life, and I cannot, in right mindedness, allow that paperwork to hold true today," Strange said pointedly, his eyes heavy on Steve for a moment before turning them back to Evaline. "Eva?"

Her mind was still doing flips in her skull, but with one look at Steve and the variety of emotions flashing over his face, she knew who should be making the decisions. "Wanda. I want Wanda to be my medical proxy."

Steve's face went blank with surprise for a moment, before Strange nodded once and said, "I'll go get her, and a few other things I may need. Christine is going to come observe you while Banner and I run some emergent tests on Nitro to figure out what went wrong. She knows how to run a code better than I do, actually, and I'll just be in the laboratory. I'm going to keep up a monitor of your vitals, which we're going to be checking every 15 minutes, although your heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation levels are going to be monitored continuously. You are not to eat or drink anything in case we need to put you under, and you are to tell us immediately if anything feels different - if you feel itchy, short of breath, any pain. You understand?"

Nodding numbly, Evaline only really half-processed his words as Strange quickly left the room, and Bruce disappeared behind a mass of screens on the side of the room. It was probably as private a moment as Evaline and Steve were going to get for a while, so she looked up at him, catching sight of his face, which was awash with hurt.

Sighing, she took his hand in hers so she could lift his palm to her mouth and kiss the space between his thumb and pointer finger. She murmured against his skin, "Don't be mad."

Some of the tension in Steve's face turned into a defensive expression as he asked tightly, "Why would I be mad?"

"Because I chose Wanda as my medical proxy." Steve remained silent, his lips pressed together tightly and his emotions all over his face, confirming what Evaline had assumed. She sighed, brushing her fingers over his hand as she said to him, "It's for a reason. You care too much. You can't be impartial when it comes to me."

Steve relaxed a little, but still grumbled, "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It's not, most of the time," Evaline assured him, "but I need someone who is willing to make the hard decisions, too. And I don't think you can, not with how much you care for me."

He looked like he wanted to argue with her, but she saw that even he recognized that her point and her concerns were valid. It also helped that the door opened, interrupting whatever he could say, and Wanda peeked in, asking, "Is it okay if we come in?"

"I love you all, but I really don't want the whole team in here right now. I'm kind of tired," Evaline admitted, giving Wanda an apologetic smile.

"Oh, sorry! I should've been clearer. It's just me and Christine. Natasha is waiting right outside though, protecting your door - just for extra protection," Wanda added quickly as she saw fear and anxiety beginning to leak back onto Evaline's features again. "Not that we think anything is going to come in, but the other agents are a little busy in other parts of the complex right now, trying to figure out what happened to Nitro. Natasha's also had EMT training, once upon a blue moon, so she'd be the next most helpful in a dramatic medical event."

Allowing a small smile to cross over her features at the idea of Natasha as a paramedic, Evaline commented, "Nothing is truly surprising anymore."

Wanda gave her a smile back before slipping through the door, allowing Christine in behind her, who immediately walked toward Evaline and began assessing her, head-to-toe. As she flashed another light in Evaline's eyes, squeezed his fingertips and toes, palpated her lymph nodes, and more, Christine commented, "I'm glad to see you, Eva - although I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Hopefully, these will only continue to be good circumstances," Evaline said brightly, earning an encouraging squeeze of the hand from Steve. She noticed Bruce slipping out the door behind Christine's shoulder, obviously off to join Strange in whatever mad science they were performing on Nitro's body, and Evaline asked, "Sorry if I'm taking you away from anything, or anybody, else."

Christine gave her a bright, benevolent smile as she said, "I'd rather be here, taking care of you, anyway. So, no apologies necessary."

The doctor took up her position behind the screens, where Bruce had been standing moments before, and started analyzing all of Evaline's vitals and monitors that were feeding back information to her. Somewhere, and somehow, in the midst of the next few hours, Evaline managed to fall asleep, her hand still tightly wound in Steve's. Despite the fact that Christine and the nurses in the room with her were still taking Evaline's vitals every fifteen minutes, her exhaustion won out over the sensation of the blood pressure cuff and the thermometer being shoved into her armpit, and the fact that the medical team worked in relative silence helped lulled her to sleep.

When she did wake, she wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she was sure something had happened, due to the fact that an extremely loud alarm that resembled a DEFCON alert was echoing throughout their small room. Evaline's eyes slammed open at both the alarm sounding and the fact that Steve had leapt off of the bed. Quickly, her heart rate ricocheted up, indicated by the blaring of that alarm from behind her, as she asked, "What?! What's happening?!"

"It's not you," Christine said quickly, her eyes racing across the various monitors, her eyes narrowing in curiosity and confusion.

Meanwhile, Steve had reached out to console her as he put his hands on her arms, squeezing them gently as he met her eyes. Her heart rate slowly wound down again, and the alarming from behind her ceased although the one coming from the speakers in the ceiling still carried on. "It's the lockdown alarm."

Squeezing her eyes shut again, Evaline moaned, "As if nothing else could go wrong today."

The door suddenly opened, and all of them inside the room startled, Wanda even going as far to raise her hands defensively. She only powered down when she saw that Strange and Banner were standing in the doorway, both of them with still slightly baffled looks on their faces, and with Natasha flanking them from behind.

They continued to simply stand there for a moment, before Steve finally stepped forward and asked, "What is going on?"

"We're on lockdown, obviously," Natasha answered sardonically, edging into the room past Bruce and Strange as she earned a glare from Steve. She shrugged, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest as she said, "I don't know either, Rogers. Ask the respectable doctors here."

All of their gazes shifted to the scientists, and Strange cleared his throat by saying, "Good news, it wasn't the Wakandan drug that killed Nitro. Bad news, it was a different one." Just as Evaline felt her eyes begin to grow wide, Strange added quickly, "None that you're on. It seems Nitro overdosed on morphine."

A few clicks of silence echoed around the room before Natasha leaned off her wall and asked, interest piqued, "Morphine? Where the hell did he get morphine?"

"He was getting a little bit every hour through what we call a PCA pump. In a normal setting, the patient or a caregiver would have a button they would press every time they needed a pain medication, and it would deliver a little bit automatically; however, it can also be set up to deliver a certain amount every hour even without the button push. We had it on that setting for Nitro," Strange said carefully.

Steve's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he shook his head in misunderstanding. "So, how did he overdose?"

"It seems someone managed to override the controls and set it up so for his next dose, Nitro got the remainder of the syringe. It's amazing he didn't die instantly," Strange said, a little bit of wonder in his voice. "We're assuming some of his ability to heal himself after explosions played a part, but it's hard to tell exactly."

Her voice quiet and a little bit shaky as Evaline connected the dots, she asked, "Who gave him the lethal dose? Was it the Mystery Man?"

"We watched the footage, and it was just one of our own. It doesn't mean he wasn't working for the Mystery Man, but the Man himself was not here," Bruce said quickly, in disbelief, shaking his head. "It's easily been an hour or so since the kid messed with the med. We don't know if he's still even in house, but the team's all looking for him now."

Evaline sighed, then suddenly remembered what Nitro was supposed to have been doing before his death. She perked up, asking, "Did the sketch artist get anything from him?"

"Only a partial," Natasha said, handing over the piece of paper she had been cradling. Evaline eyed the image, which was more of a shadow of a figure than anything else. Helpfully, Natasha added, "There's some descriptors on the back, to help supplement your imagination a little more."

Evaline did as she suggested, flipping the paper over and reading the basics of the Mystery Man's appearance: dark brown hair, blue eyes, white skin. Six foot one or two, about 190 pounds of lean muscle. Raspy voice, slightly accented - possibly Eastern European.

Her eyes hovering over this detail, Evaline had to strain to remember the Mystery Man's voice, which she distinctly remembered not having any sort of notable accent. As she tried to draw on her memory of him, the image of her initial accident suddenly cleared, as if she were watching it through a camera lens that had properly come into focus. As the man's neck turned to look at the Quinjet behind him that had come to save Evaline, she saw the edge of a tattoo beginning to peek out of the top of his shirt.

"He has a tattoo," she said, startling the group with her revelation as she pointed to his left shoulder. "It looked like it came up from here, to about three-quarters of the way down his collarbone."

Steve stepped forward, his eyes alight with her revelation - or rather, the fact that she had been able to pull the details at all. "Are you remembering things?"

Evaline squeezed her eyes shut tightly, and she felt a rush of half-formed memories come flooding back into her brain: playing some version of Soviet chess with Natasha, braiding Thor's hair stealthily so he didn't notice, acting as moving target practice for Wanda's powers, soldering something with Tony and Scott's avid eyes over either shoulder.

She shuffled through the memories like they were file folders, finally finding one enticing enough as Times Square blasted across her mindscape. The memory was from her point of view, her eyes gathering in the circle of black SUVs that had surrounded her and two other figures. She could tell from behind that one was Fury, with his bald, dark-skinned head and black trench coat as easy identifiers. It wasn't until Fury moved five inches to the right, however, that she saw their other companion.

Steve was standing in the middle of Times Square, his blue eyes wide and wild as they bounced across the scene, taking in the adversaries around him and the skyscrapers stretching above them. He was wearing an extremely tight white t-shirt with the old SSR emblem emblazoned on the front, and a pair of khakis that ended at bare feet.

As his eyes took in his surroundings, they finally landed on Evaline's, and something made them stay there. Despite the fact that she felt her right hand hovering over the handle of her Stunner in right hip holster, she also felt her heart flipping of its own accord in her chest.

She blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, she was back in the hospital room with all eyes on her. Clutching her head, which was pulsing with a migraine now, Evaline said softly, "Yes, I'm remembering. You didn't tell me that I was there when you were… revived, or whatever."

Steve's expression softened. "I didn't think it was important."

"It's not, in the grand scheme of things," Strange said flatly, back to his scientist ways as he flashed a pen light in both of Evaline's eyes, making her blink involuntarily. "Your pupils look good. But I'm assuming you have a pretty bad headache?"

"Yeah," Evaline said, wincing as another file of memories loaded and a burst of pain shot through her brain. "Did Nitro have the same problems?"

"Yes, but I imagine your symptoms might be a little worse, considering there's more memories for you to have to remember," Strange said, eyeing her carefully. "I was going to give you some intravenous medication to keep you under, because we think that maybe removing you from this environment will provide less stimulation and decrease the pain of the headaches… but I'm still afraid to give you anything that will affect your breathing too much."

Bruce finally stepped forward, saying, "But we could use this laughing gas of sorts that we have created. Like, what they use at the dentist's office - but just a tiny bit stronger. It partially removes you from this reality so you can dive into the memories of the one you lost."

Before Evaline could even think about the advantages and disadvantages of the procedure, Steve was answering, "No."

"Fair reminder that you are no longer her medical proxy, Rogers, and therefore don't have as much say as her or Wanda," Strange said, a little bit of annoyance in his tone that Steve bristled at. Meanwhile, Evaline's heart constricted as she realized the reason Steve had probably been hurt by her choosing Wanda as her medical proxy was because Steve had been it before - and that was a sign of how much their relationship had changed, and of how little she still remembered.

She pushed through the realization and asked, "Will it help me get my memories back faster?"

"I believe so," Strange said, nodding effusively. "Basically, your brain is trying to reprogram itself, and your two identities, your two realities, are at war. If we were able to put you under, we could get one of those realities to settle down and stop fighting, allowing for the right reality to supersede."

Biting her lip for a moment, Evaline asked, "So, all my memories of the life I thought I had led will be gone?"

Several moments of silence clicked around the room as the three doctors shared an unreadable look. Finally, it was Bruce who answered gently, saying, "We're not sure, to be honest. Obviously our own sample we were working from just had short-term amnesia, and his was more of a blankness rather than his memories getting replaced."

Bruce allowed for the statement to hang in the air, the implications clear: Evaline's current memories of her life she had thought was her real one could be completely gone when she woke up. Memories of dancing around the house with Marley, or gaming with Luke, or going to the University of Washington for college, would all just be gone when she woke up.

She felt a strong sense of loss hit her chest, but as her eyes circled around the room, she caught the careful and worried gazes of the few members of her team, her family. Her eyes finally landed on Steve, who looked like he was trying his hardest not to step in and demand Evaline go through with it just so she could get her memories back and they could finally resume their relationship as it had been.

Sighing, Evaline nodded and said, "Okay. Let's do it."

She noticed that everyone in the room seemed to relax a little bit with her declaration, especially as Strange, Bruce, and Christine all moved to begin setting things up. As they prepared the room, Steve and Wanda leaned over Evaline on either side as the latter asked, "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"Yes," Evaline said with more confidence than she felt. "I'm tired of living two different lives, having them warring with each other inside me. It's time to pick one, and I pick this one."

Relief washed over Steve's face as he leaned down to kiss her, obviously not caring if their teammates saw them. Someone cleared their throat from behind him, and when he moved, she saw Bruce was standing at the bedside, holding an oxygen mask that was connected to a machine hidden behind his legs.

His voice was calm, measured, as he said, "I'm going to strap this to your face, and your only instruction is to breathe deeply, slowly, and count backwards from ten. By the time you reach one, you'll already be out."

"We'll watch you very carefully, Evaline," Christine promised with a gentle, comforting smile. Evaline simply nodded, and Bruce stepped forward, placing the mask over her nose and mouth and tightening the straps behind her head. Despite the fact that her heart was racing and she felt her breathing following suit, Evaline focused on her breathing and forced it to slow down.

Christine's voice came from behind her, saying, "Okay, Evaline, we started the gas. You can start counting down now."

Her voice came out muffled through the plastic rubber of the mask as she started saying, "Ten, nine, eight, seven…"

Steve leaned in and brushed her hair back with his free hand, his other occupied with holding hers just as her vision began to blur and gray at the edges. Leaning down, he kissed her hairline, leaving his lips there as she continued to count.

"Six, five, four…"

Her vision was almost down to pinpoints now, and there was a strange whispering sound filling her mind. Distantly, she heard Steve murmur something to her, although she couldn't quite make out the words.

"Three, two…"

Although she forgot the next word in the order of numbers, and her vision had disappeared entirely, Evaline's mind finally settled down enough to almost complete silence, although the last words Steve had said to her finally registered and went pinging through her nearly silent brain.

" _I love you, Evaline."_

Then, her mind went black.


	17. Chapter 17

When Evaline was under, she felt like she was in a fever dream.

Landscapes of memory flashed across her mind, quicker than she could fully process them and overloading all of her senses despite the fact that she was technically unconscious. Sights, smells, sounds all accosted her brain, and just as she felt like her mind might actually explode with how much was slamming back into it, it all finally stilled and faded to grey, then black.

It remained black for a few heartbeats, which Evaline could hear at full volume, pulsing against her eardrums, before she slowly heard the noises around her begin to filter back in.

Strange's voice, unfortunately, was the first one she heard, commanding, "Get me another set of vitals."

"She's coming out of it," Christine offered, providing Evaline with a strange sense of deja vu from her first episode of unconsciousness with the same medical team.

Evaline truly struggled to open her eyes, which were exhausted and dry. Even when she did, she still had issues with her vision, as there was an extremely bright lamp hanging above her, directly in her face. Her voice croaked out, "Who thought it'd be a good idea to wake me up with the sun?"

"See," she heard Tony's triumphant tone speak from somewhere behind her. "Told you she was fine, Rogers."

As someone turned off the light and her pupils adjusted to her settings again, she saw the team of people gathered around her. Strange flashed another, smaller light in her eyes, then slipped his hands into hers as, out of habit, she squeezed them. His voice came back to her, saying, "All neuro signs intact. How are you feeling, Kaeser?"

"A little tired, and a lot of hungry," Evaline said, stretching out her muscles as she sat up in the bed. "How long was I out for?"

"About an hour," Strange said, his voice a little tight. "I didn't think it would take quite that long. Nitro's readjustment took twenty minutes."

By the look on Steve's face, which was starting to look closer to his true age of ninety by the wrinkles that had begun to form on it, Evaline could tell that Strange wasn't the only one who had been more than a little nervous.

It was her boyfriend who stepped forward and asked gently, "What do you remember?"

Silence and tension filled the room to nearly bursting, as Evaline was rocked with a few more memories that seemed to clarify from the masses. In them, she remembered visiting New York City when she was seven years old and looking up in wonder at Stark Tower, where she now held permanent residence; remembered walking into S.H.I.E.L.D for the first time and feeling that she was surrounded by her destiny; remembered eating takeout in the massive living room area in the penthouse as her entire team surrounded her and watched the original _Star Wars_ trilogy.

Her voice was quiet, but clear, as she said, "I remember… everything."

Relief visibly flooded the room, filling everyone's expressions - most notably Steve's and Strange's. Tony, who had edged around to the foot of the bed so he was in full view of Evaline, asked, "Alright, Kaeser. Quiz time. If your memories are intact, you should be able to tell me… how the hell did you break into the HYDRA base in Brussels five years ago? Because I, nor Friday, a supercomputer, could figure out the code, yet somehow you…"

Multiple people groaned in the room, and Evaline grinned as they did so, recognizing the argument easily as Tony brought it up nearly every opportunity he could. He could not stand being outsmarted, and had never been able to figure out what code Evaline had used to break into a HYDRA base back when they had been searching for the location of Loki's scepter and trying to take down HYDRA factions.

Evaline had never had the heart to tell him that she had taken a wild guess, and the code had been the Red Skull's birthday. She enjoyed lording it over him too much.

"I'll tell you the same thing I tell you every time, Tony," Evaline said, her smile wide. "Sometimes, you've got to accept there are some things you just won't ever know."

Tony emitted an extremely loud and frustrated groan, much to the amusement of everyone around them. Just then, a beeping noise came from a few of the members of their team, and Evaline quickly looked over at Natasha, who had taken out her phone. Their entire team was on high alert due to the fact that every alarm within the last few hours had meant something was going wrong, but Natasha seemed to relax as she read whatever message was on her screen.

"Fury's wasting no time following whoever killed Nitro," she said by way of explanation. "He wants Bravo Team to get in the Quinjet and follow up a lead. We think he may have run and gotten on a copter outside our no-fly area. Vision and Rhodey are waiting at the jet for us."

Scott and Sam looked like they were going to argue with her, but Evaline cut in quickly, saying, "Go."

The two heroes turned to her, Sam asking quietly, "Are you sure you're okay? You feel good, you're not going to… do anything dramatic?"

"No," Evaline promised with a genuine smile in response to Sam's care for her. When he gave her a doubtful, considering look, she reiterated, "I promise, I won't."

Sam turned to Steve instead, saying firmly, "If anything happens…"

"We'll call you," Steve said, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder and giving him a grateful smile that warmed Evaline's heart. "Go, Sam. We'll hold down the fort."

He looked at Evaline for a moment more before heading out the door, Scott and Natasha following him after saying their respective goodbyes. Steve had turned to ask Strange more details about how long Evaline would have to stay in the hospital room, and Tony was quietly listening in on that conversation as Evaline got lost in her own thoughts, focusing on the last clear memory she had had of them all having their movie marathon.

She only came back to when she startled as someone put their hand over hers. Looking up, she saw Wanda eyeing her with concern, her eyebrows furrowed in the middle as she asked gently, "What's wrong? You look sad."

"Just wishing we could have all of the merry squad together again, at least once, so I could have a real memory with all of them," Evaline commented, giving them a tired smile. Steve, Tony, and Wanda shared a quick look that didn't go missed by Evaline, who quickly asked, "What? Are they… are they gone, too?"

"No, no," Wanda said quickly, her eyes going wide as she adamantly shook her head, letting out a relieved laugh. "No! Oh, my gosh, no. They're all alive and well, just… spread out."

Evaline felt her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Then what was that little look that you all just shared?"

"Oh, it was no big deal!" Wanda said reassuringly. When she didn't elaborate, however, Evaline peaked a single eyebrow to encourage her to continue, which she did. "When you first woke, we had planned a homecoming party of sorts to bring all the various team members back together. As you can imagine, we didn't throw the party because it felt a little… premature. Now, however, we have something worth celebrating. If you're feeling up to it, that is."

Steve, Wanda, and Tony all watched her carefully, trying to gauge her reaction. Although Evaline was exhausted from the events of the last several hours, she also felt her heart racing in anticipation as images crossed over her mind of what had always been and what would always be her life.

And she was eager to get started with it.

"Go ahead," Evaline said, earning a slightly surprised look from Steve and an elated one from Wanda. "I mean… when would this so-called party be, exactly? Because I think I need to go take a nap or something."

Wanda laughed, her eyes sparking red for a moment with joy. "Oh, it wouldn't be today, love. I've still got to contact everybody, and that'll take at least a day. It's always a hit or miss trying to get in touch with Thor or the Guardians, and Hope was still in an atomic sub dimension the last I heard, and…"

Cutting in, Tony said, "Tomorrow. Could we get everyone together by tomorrow night?"

Although she bit her lip for a moment in concentration, Wanda nodded. "That should work. If I can't get into contact with our space friends, then that'll be a long term thing and they won't be able to come for a while anyway. So, we can party without them."

Evaline was amused to see Steve and Tony deflate a little at that comment, and when she gave them a curious look, Tony shrugged and said, "I kind of hate Quill, but the guy knows how to party."

The comment earned a laugh from Evaline, seeming to surprise her three friends before they all smiled as well. "In that case, I definitely hope Quill and the rest of the Guardians can make it. Should we go ahead and try to call them now, get on top of it?"

"Woah, there," Wanda said, reaching out to gently push Evaline's shoulder back down as she tried to get up from the hospital bed. "You need to rest right now, Ev. Tony and I've got this under control."

Tony raised one of his own eyebrows, asking in surprise, "We do?"

"We do," Wanda insisted, patting his shoulder and giving him a bright smile before turning it back on Evaline as the two of them backed away from her, presumably to go plan the party. "We'll handle everything and send you the details. You don't worry about a thing."

And as Evaline rested back against the hospital bed, she realized that for the first time, she really could follow Wanda's last words of wisdom, to relax.

—

Evaline spent the next day or two simply taking it easy after Strange finally let her leave the hospital room and return to the Tower. She slept, and when she woke, she went through the journal she had first started upon coming out of her coma, crossing off items on the list she now remembered the answers to. Although most of the team gave her space, Steve was right behind her the entire time, going so far as to cook her every meal and bring it to her room whenever her stomach began to growl.

As she rifled through her memories, Evaline began to feel more settled and relaxed about the impending party that night. Wanda had already informed her that only the Guardians had not replied, and the Wakandans had declined on behalf of T'Challa, who was currently on some covert operation with Okoye and Bucky in tow. Evaline could see the sadness flash over Steve's face at the mention that his best friend wouldn't be arriving, but it quickly cleared when the concern appeared on her face and Steve insisted he was fine.

Finally, a few hours before the party, Steve left Evaline alone so she could shower and get ready, although he had reminded her about thirty times before leaving that his room was just across the hall. Every time, Evaline reminded _him_ that they would only be apart for two hours at the most.

Two hours on the dot, running purposefully late due to Tony's request, Evaline headed through the eerily quiet living quarters to the main living area. Steve was waiting for her by the elevator patiently, turning to her as he heard her heels clicking on the tile floor. He gave her a slow, private, sweet smile before stepping toward her, taking her hands in his before he leaned down to kiss her, murmuring, "You look gorgeous."

The intimate words were still new enough that a thrill went up and down Evaline's spine as she felt a blush crawling into her cheeks. "Not looking too bad yourself, handsome."

For all intents and purposes, it looked like Steve and Evaline had intentionally matched. Whereas she was wearing a navy cocktail dress with an a-line neckline and a diamond cut out in the back that exposed her skin from her shoulders to the middle of her rib cage, Steve was dressed simply in navy pants and a white dress shirt that he paired with a dark navy tie.

His eyes flashed with joy and another smile crossed his face as he said, "Great minds think alike. You ready?"

Evaline turned toward the door, knowing that she would be bombarded with people and memories as soon as she stepped out of the elevator. And although she was still a little wary, she found her fear had all but dissipated as she focused on Steve's hand on her waist, and the faces of those team members who had already become her close friends.

She gave him what she hoped was a convincing smile as she said, "Ready as I'll ever be."

Returning the smile, Steve reached over to press the button that would take them up to the penthouse, the button reading his fingerprint as Friday's voice called out, "Welcome, Captain Rogers."

They rode up the few floors in silence, Steve's fingers gently massaging Evaline's lower back to soothe her. When the elevator opened, it revealed a small foyer before what Tony affectionately called 'The Party Room', which was almost vibrating with the amount of noise that was emanating from within. Although all of the walls were glass, Evaline's eyes weren't yet drawn to the celebration awaited her, but instead to the impeccably well-dressed couple waiting just outside the doorway.

Tony, as usual, had compiled an ensemble that looked as if he was ready to enter a business meeting, a cocktail party, or both: a three-piece suit tailored to within an inch of its life so it clung to his rather angular body. His best accessory was not the half-faded sunglasses Evaline knew were retrofitted with an AI system and monitors, nor the antique watch he wore that Evaline remembered had his father's initials engraved on the back, but rather the dazzling woman whose arm was wrapped around his.

Evaline didn't miss the shine in Pepper Potts' eyes as they locked gazes, the co-CEO of Stark Industries quickly forgetting about the man who stood beside her as she nearly stumbled forward, a surprised smile on her face as she whispered, "Eva."

As Pepper embraced her, a set of memories assaulted Evaline: wine and whine nights with Pepper, Natasha, Wanda, and Maria, amongst others; helping teach Pepper a little bit of self defense and finding she was rather good, much to Tony's chagrin; and going shopping with her, to decorate her home with Tony.

Squeezing back Pepper tightly, Evaline felt some relief release from her shoulders as she held her close friend to her. "Pepper. It's so good to see you."

"I've missed you so much," Pepper said, hugging her even tighter, which Evaline hadn't thought was possible moments before. "This Tower, this world, hasn't been the same without you in it."

Just as she felt tears beginning to crawl toward the edge of her eyelid, Evaline heard the men shift behind them, reminding her their reunion was being observed.

"As much as this warms my heart," Tony finally interrupted, a genuine smile in his voice despite the sardonic tone of his comment, "we've got a whole party of people waiting for you inside, Kaeser. Pep, honey, you can't hog her, and you don't want to mess up anybody's make-up."

Pulling away from her, Pepper threw a look at her significant other, before turning back to Evaline and saying, "Well, I'll have to monopolize you some other time, then. You up for a trip out on the town sometime next week?"

"Absolutely," Evaline said, squeezing Pepper's hand and giving her a grin.

Tony groaned, commenting dramatically, "I can already imagine the call from my banker now."

"Oh, hush, you act like we go wild on 5th Avenue or something," Pepper said, playfully hitting him on the chest as he grinned wildly at annoying her. The two of them turned toward the glass doors leading into the room, Tony holding open the door graciously for Pepper as she admonished him, "You will not keep us from having a good time and me spoiling her."

Tony rolled his eyes, still smiling, as he said, "Ah, yes, we're all about spoiling Eva right now. Reminder to look around you."

With Steve's hand in hers, Evaline stepped through the doorway and heeded Tony's advice, finally taking in the party that had been erected in her so-called honor. Although Tony had been moaning about putting together a "rager" in such a short period of time, Evaline wasn't sure why; the Party Room had hardly been transformed from its previous glory. The only major changes were the crowd, featuring various people that Evaline knew all had roles within or interactions with S.H.I.E.L.D, and the amount of activity at the bar and games Tony had spread throughout.

From the mass of people, a smaller group of people stepped forward to greet Evaline, and she turned toward them, identifying them easily: Thor Odinson, Peter Parker, Hope Van Dyne, and Clint Barton. For a moment, all of them froze in a kind of awkward standoff, before the Asgardian god stepped forward, a wide smile stretching across his expression as he collected her in such a tight embrace that Evaline was sure her lungs had completely stopped working.

Considering his head was next to hers, and about a foot above, his regal voice vibrated in her bones as he shouted, "Evaline Kaeser! It is a pleasure to see you upright again!"

Thinking back to the memory she had of braiding Thor's hair, in which now she remembered he had loved the braid and insisted she basically give him a head full of loose cornrows that Sam had spit out his water upon seeing, Evaline grinned and patted Thor on the back. "It's good to see you, too, Thor."

As he pulled away from her, Evaline saw his blue eyes alight with pure joy that was readily contagious. He boomed, "I must go get us libations to properly celebrate! Barkeep, a pint of your best beer!"

He whirled around, moving toward the bar as fast as he had arrived, leaving behind Evaline smiling after him in disbelief before she faced the rest of the group.

As she turned to Peter, the strongest memory that arose was one that took place in the Avengers training facility, after Peter had completed - and decimated - a simulation scenario Tony had built for him. While the bioengineer sulked off to go create a new scenario to stump the spidery hero, Peter had pulled aside Evaline, who had been supervising and analyzing him for a report back to Fury on his field readiness, and asked her for girl advice, redder than his suit the entire time.

"Hi, Evaline," Peter said a little shyly, the same boyish smile on his face as in her memory before he leaned in and gave her an awkward hug. Just as Evaline was about to respond, he pulled away and began rattling incessantly, saying, "What do I even say to you, really? Welcome back? Welcome home? What is the proper response to what you went through? Because it's not like you really left, per se, and…"

"What he means to say," Hope offered, rolling her eyes although a smile gave away the fact that she was hardly annoyed, "is we're glad to have you here, with us."

Peter seemed to relax as Hope gave him the words he had been looking for, his smile less pinched as he admitted, "Yeah, that states it… pretty perfectly."

Stepping in front of him, Hope gave Evaline a bright smile and leaned in to give her a hug. As she did, the scent of her washed over Evaline, bringing with it a string of memories associated with Hope: nights of her joining in on the wine and whine sessions, testing a new suit on Evaline that essentially acted as a scuba diving suit mixed with Tony's Iron Man tech, and teaming up against Scott both in the training room and in more private settings as they both relentlessly teased him for various reasons.

"I'm sorry I didn't make much of an appearance until now. Hank had me on a mission where I was kind of… locked down," Hope said, bringing Evaline back as she winced a little bit before shaking her head and readopting her grin. "I'm glad I could be here for this, at least. Welcome home, officially, Eva. I can't wait to make good on all those IOUs at McGaffin's."

Evaline grinned at her, thinking of the nights she and Hope had spent playing various bar games at the S.H.I.E.L.D watering hole, and how she had quickly learned that Hope's kryptonite was tequila. "Sounds good to me, Hope."

As Hope grinned and stepped away, Evaline turned to Clint, who looked simply shocked and had been uncharacteristically quiet, especially in the fact that he hadn't taken the opportunity to mock Peter's stumbling soliloquy from moments before.

When Evaline eyed him carefully, an array of emotions flashed over Clint's face before he finally settled on breathing, "God, Eva."

The normally stoic archer took a few wide steps toward her, then wrapped her up in a tight hug. As he did, Evaline was slammed with a wide array of memories, realizing that it was mostly due to the fact that besides Natasha, Clint was the one she had the longest history with. She recalled missions they had gone on together, including her first so-called 'solo' mission where Clint had been keeping an eye on her the entire time as back-up, as well as the slower moments at the S.H.I.E.L.D base where she had stayed for the first few years in the organization. The one memory that stood out the strongest to her, however, was when she had been asked to be the godmother of his second child, and was handed the small blanket-wrapped bundle that she swore she would protect with her own life.

That small little bundle now stood as a toddler beside Clint's wife, Laura's, side, wriggling underneath her mother's tight grip. By way of an apology, Laura said, "We left Nathaniel at home with a babysitter, but Cooper and Lila really wanted to see their Auntie Eva."

"Of course they did," Evaline said, her heart swelling at the sight of the two kids as she squatted down and put her arms out. "Cooper, Lila, my little monsters!"

It was a beckoning call as they both squealed and raced toward her, nearly knocking her over as they both began babbling about soccer practices, what they were learning in school, what pictures they had drawn her, and so on.

Steve, still standing behind Evaline, asked in a fake-offended tone, "What, no love for Uncle Steve?!"

Both of the small children abandoned Evaline and leapt at the super soldier, who took their weight as if it were no big deal. Grinning wildly, Steve haphazardly threw Lila over his shoulder and carried Cooper in the grip of his free arm as both squealed and wiggled. Seeing the unadulterated joy on his expression, Evaline's heart clenched as her mind involuntarily flashed back.

On one of their few days off, Evaline had managed to rope Steve into making a trip with her to Rhode Island so they could baby sit Daria and Henry so that her brother and Joanna could enjoy a night out to themselves. Normally, her mother would be the relegated babysitter, but she was visiting Evaline's other brother, Gabriel, at his new base in San Diego - so Evaline had offered her and Steve's services.

At the end of the night, after a long day of swimming and playing Cops and Robbers and running around the yard like they were all young children, Steve joined Evaline in the guest bedroom, where she was getting ready to go to sleep herself. As she prepared herself to collapse on the mattress, more exhausted than most of the days she trained at S.H.I.E.L.D, she heard Steve's voice come out from behind her quietly.

" _Evaline."_

 _She turned toward him, alerted by the strain in his voice. He wouldn't meet her eyes for a moment, remaining silent before Evaline stepped toward him, resting her hand on his chest and asking quietly, "Yeah?"_

" _I…" He shook his head, swallowing hard before looking down at her. "I don't know how to tell you this nicely, so I'll just say it. I'm sterile."_

 _It was such a random and unexpected turn in the conversation that Evaline couldn't help but say in surprise, "What?"_

 _Steve adopted a sad smile, speaking quickly as he admitted, "I see you with Daria and Henry, and I can tell how much you love them and how much you want it. I can also tell because it's the same way I feel, and I probably have the same look all over my face. But it doesn't feel fair for you to not know that… that I can't give that to you."_

 _It took a while for Evaline to even process his words, never mind formulate a proper response. Not only had the topic been brought up out of virtually nowhere, but the fact that Steve was sterile was something Evaline had simply never even considered. In addition, she could see how much it bothered Steve that he could not help Evaline bear children, and she was surprised to see how much he expected her to respond negatively to this fact._

 _She took in a deep breath, trying to reign in her words as she responded calmly, quietly, "Steve, we both currently work as spies, basically. If you think I thought children are anywhere near in my future, you're wrong."_

 _Steve's face twisted, into so many emotions that Evaline had a hard time pinpointing exactly one. "But…"_

 _Cutting him off, Evaline said, "Do I want children? Yes, absolutely. But there are so many kids out in this world who don't have homes, who don't have families, who don't have anything."_

" _While I think adoption is valiant," Steve said, sadness still swimming in his eyes, "don't you want a child that is really and truly and only your own?"_

" _What matters to me is not that my future child or children have my blood or my genes. What does, is that they have a father that they could look up to, who would support and love them through anything and everything," Evaline said, kissing him lightly as she murmured against his lips, "and I have no doubt that you would fulfill all of that, and more."_

Evaline shook her head once, removing herself from the memory, before she felt a gentle hand on her elbow. She startled, then looked over quickly to where Hope was standing beside her, a look of concern flashing over her face as she asked, "Eva?"

"I'm okay," Eva said, giving Hope what she hoped was a reassuring smile as she began backing away from her and to the doors leading out to the balcony behind them. "I just need some fresh air."

Although Hope nodded and let her leave, Evaline didn't miss the fact that growing concern had continued to contort her facial features as Evaline turned away from her. Still, she left her behind as she exited out from the party, feeling her chest begin to loosen just as the fresh air hit her nostrils and the insistent conversations from behind her fell quiet.

She leaned over the balcony's banister, closing her eyes shut tightly as she allowed a wave of memories to cascade over her, pulsating as they re-entered her mind. Letting them come, she just focused on her breathing and nothing else for a few moments as the love, pain, loss, and joy of an entire life rushed through her body.

Just as she felt the rush of memories beginning to wind down, she heard the party's volume increase and fall again suddenly behind her, a sure sign that someone else had come out to join her. Still, she kept her eyes firmly shut until she felt a presence walk up behind her, a gentle touch and voice calling her back as she heard, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Evaline said quietly, turning into Steve's touch as she leant her back against the railing, catching the concern in his blue eyes. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, laughing simultaneously so it came out as more of a choked exhale. "It's just… a lot. With every person I see, every corner I turn to, these memories keep reappearing, although in smaller pieces and in slower waves."

Steve's eyebrows furrowed, his hand slowly rubbing up and down Evaline's arms to console her as he read right through her. "Something else is bothering you."

For a moment, Evaline looked past his shoulder, to where she saw the party continuing on. She noticed the group of her girlfriends - Natasha, Wanda, Hope, Pepper, and Maria - were standing very close to the door she had exited through, trying and failing to look like they weren't paying attention to Evaline and what she and Steve were doing out on the balcony.

Shaking her head, Evaline turned back to Steve as she said, "I'm looking at all of these people inside, and associating them with these memories I have with them and having all these similar feelings about the memories, but somehow… it's all still a little bit distant, like I'm seeing the memories through some sort of fog or something."

Steve stood in front of her, watching her carefully as he said, "Like you feel like you're seeing them through somebody else's eyes?"

"A little bit," Evaline admitted, lowering her gaze from his as she sighed, knowing the question he really wanted to ask in wondering what, exactly, had triggered this response. "The worst is remembering all these conversations you and I had about our future together, because all it reminds me of now is how much pain you must have been going through when I woke up and virtually didn't remember you."

Steve looked surprised for a moment, before reaching out to rest a hand on hers. His voice was gentle but firm as he said, "That is not your fault."

"I know it isn't," she admitted, shaking her head as she looked up at him with tears glittering at the edges of her eyelids, "but I'm reliving these memories of seeing your face when we were talking about adopting children in the future, or other intense such conversations, and…"

Quickly, Steve said, "I am not holding you to any of those promises you made me in that past life. I understand that was a different time, and even if you get all your memories back, that you might not still be the same person."

"You're not understanding me," Evaline said, shaking her head. "It's the worst because all of that still holds true. I still want that future, my future, with you. I just thought I'd be able to have that conversation with you, and apparently, I already have."

A flash of surprise crossed over Steve's face, before sadness flooded it and he breathed, "Oh, Eva…"

"I'm sorry," Evaline said, laughing as she wiped away a rogue tear that had started to roll down her cheek. "It's such a stupid thing to be upset, but those are memories and chances that I want to take with you, and I guess I have already, but it feels like…"

When she trailed off, Steve supplied, "It feels like someone else's memory that you're watching."

"I hate it," she said quickly, shaking her head. "I don't want it to be that way, but…"

Sighing, Steve pinned her between his body and the bannister, one hand cradling her face and hidden in her hair while the other wrapped around her waist. He pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes dilating wildly in the pulsating lights of the party behind them and the cityscape in front of them, as he told her, "I don't care what memories you think we already have together. I'm more than willing to relive them all with you. Whatever future you want, whatever future you need… I'm here talk about it with you, for all of it, no matter what."

Evaline met his eyes before leaning up to kiss him, feeling his arm slide around the back of her waist and pull her in even tighter. Just as Evaline began sliding the hand she had rested against his chest underneath the loosened collar of his dress shirt, she heard the party's volume increase behind her again and felt another presence join them.

A sardonic voice called from the balcony door, "Rogers, stop hogging the person of the hour."

They separated and turned to see Tony smirking at them from just inside the doorway, Pepper looking annoyed that her betrothed had obviously ignored her suggestions to just let them be. Just as Evaline rolled her eyes and was about to cut back at their intruder, Steve did so instead, saying, "She's my girlfriend, I think I have full rights to."

Evaline couldn't deny that her stomach still did somersaults when Steve used the word 'girlfriend' to describe her, and that much was apparent by the uncontrollable smile that stretched onto her face.

Rolling his eyes, Tony said, "Yeah, well, you can have her all to yourself later tonight. For right now, we want to hog her."

Steve slid his hand into Evaline's, leading her back into the Tower as he told Tony, "Alright, alright, I'm bringing her back."

When the four of them stepped back into the Tower, Evaline was slammed once more with the amount of noise that echoed throughout it. As she looked around at the various members of her team scattered throughout the Tower, she reveled in the joy and chaos of it all. Bruce and Natasha were slinging drinks behind the bar, the assassin expertly sliding glasses to the patrons and bypassing an over-eager Peter Parker every time despite his best attempts to snag one of the alcoholic drinks; Scott and Hope were playing an intense game of corn hole against Clint and his kids that the two sometimes-miniature superheroes were purposefully losing; Vision was flying around the room still wearing the 'Kiss the Chef' apron Wanda had bestowed on him earlier while Thor, wearing the matching chef's hat and with Christine at his side, played beer pong against Strange and Rhodey.

Steve squeezed her hand once, grinning at her over his shoulder and bringing her back to reality before leading her back into the fray as she realized the Tower was finally beginning to feel like home.


	18. Chapter 18

It was a miracle that Evaline woke up the next morning.

When she did, she wasn't without punishment, though, as a headache rocked its way through her skull, to the point that her vision blurred. She let out a quiet groan, throwing out her hand to the side to where her glasses normally laid on her nightstand, but feeling some sort of sharp-cornered frame instead.

She hesitated a moment before forcing open her eyes and taking in her surroundings, looking down at the frame her hand laid on. The picture inside was a selfie taken of her and Steve, Evaline staring up at him adoringly and in mid-laugh, his face covered in confusion and his mouth open as if he was in the middle of saying something. His finger blurred the lower left corner of the picture, and Evaline saw what she thought was a piece of the Eiffel Tower in the corner opposite.

The memory of the picture, of the memory of Steve's first time taking a selfie with the forward-facing camera on his new phone, of the memory of climbing all the steps of the Eiffel Tower and unabashedly staring at Steve's butt the entire way up, were all clear to her. The only memory that wasn't, was placing the picture on her nightstand - and as she bothered to take a look around the room, she realized why.

She wasn't in her room. Or her bed.

Slowly, she turned to see Steve still sleeping soundly next to her, his back facing her and his arms stretched above his head. Surreptitiously, she lowered her hands to her body, letting out a breath when she realized she was in her same clothes from the night before, and she made the safe assumption that they had not left their body and she had not taken part in nighttime activities with the Captain.

Just as she debated rolling over and going back to sleep, her stomach let out an obscenely large growl that she was sure would wake up Steve. She froze as if that would somehow limit the amount of noise the acids in her abdomen were creating, but it was all for nothing; Steve remained fast asleep on his side of the bed, the relaxation on his features making him look years younger even though, technically, he never really aged.

Slowly, carefully, Evaline moved out of the bed and escaped to her room across the hall, taking a quick cold shower that quickly wiped away all of her mussed up makeup and a good portion of her hangover. Although she knew that exercise was actually the best way for her to work off the extra alcohol in her body, she also knew that walking more than 7 miles per hour would probably cause all of the alcohol she had consumed to come back up, and, after seeing the blue skies and bright sun outside, she decided to take a walk through New York instead.

Using the same tricks most of the members of her team employed when venturing out into public, as Evaline was still unsure to what extent she was recognizable, she tucked her hair into a ponytail and pulled it through an old Army hat of Steve's that had somehow migrated into and taken up permanent residence in her closet, paired with a pair of yoga pants, tennis shoes, and a loose-fitting periwinkle t-shirt.

As she made her exit through the main parts of the Tower, she recognized that she was probably the only soul alive on her team's shared floor, as the kitchen and living room were devoid of all signs of life. Carefully and quietly she escaped, finally making it to the busy sidewalk just outside Stark Tower, her disguise for naught as she barely blended in with the heavy masses of suits and high heels that were moving around in preparation for their work day.

At first, it was meant to be a simple leisurely stroll as Evaline let her heaviest thoughts fall away, instead taking in her surroundings: the skyscrapers stretching high above her head, feeling as if they might lean over and collapse right on top of her; the bumper-to-bumper traffic and incessant squealing horns clogging the street; the stress lines both in the concrete beneath the feet and on the faces of those who surrounded her; and more.

Without even really realizing that her feet and body were moving without her mind attached, Evaline quickly found herself in front of a cozy coffee store just a few blocks up and over from Stark Tower. The scent of a freshly brewed Brazilian roast hit her nostrils as soon as she stepped inside, clearing up a small part of her migraine almost immediately just its strength as it drew her to the counter.

The barista behind the bar gave her a wide, genuine smile as she said, "Eva! Hi, there! It's been a while! Your normal order?"

Evaline blinked a couple of times, heavily, her migraine keeping her from being bale to access her newly refurbished memories. As she watched the barista's smile begin to slip and confusion begin to replace her joyous expression, Evaline quickly said, "Yeah, my regular order."

Her smile renewed, the barista typed something in to her register and said, "We billed it to the card on file. It should be ready in ten to fifteen minutes."

Unwilling to ask what she had just ordered that would take that long to make, Evaline just headed to a table near the window on the street instead, resting the side of her head against the cool glass and beginning to gaze around the cafe and people watch. As she moved her gaze from the window to the inside of the cafe, however, they locked on the girl straight in front of her, sitting just one table over. Her eyes took in all the details - the cropped dark auburn hair, the Hemingway book she was cradling, the forest green jumper jacket covering likely tattooed arms, the marble-rim glasses hanging off the neck of her t-shirt.

It was Marley.

Sensing a pair of eyes on her, Marley's doppelgänger lifted her own to meet Evaline's. She smiled politely, but blankly, the way you did at a stranger, before tipping her head to the side In curiosity and asking kindly, "Hi. May I help you?"

"I'm sorry," Evaline said, her voice coming out a little breathless as her chest tightened with the realization that maybe in this world, Marley didn't know her at all. Quickly, she added, "You just… you look like someone I used to know."

The Marley doppelgänger blinked a couple of times, and Evaline saw trickles of surprise beginning to arrive in her expression. Still, Evaline forced herself to look away, sure that the surprise was more so due to the sadness that she had picked up on in Evaline's voice.

So, Evaline herself was surprised when she heard the scratch of a chair on the floor, before looking up to see Marley taking a seat across from her.

"I wasn't sure if you remembered me," Marley admitted, giving her a weirdly eager smile that confused Evaline just a little bit. "It's been a couple of months since you've been here, and I had heard you had kind of gone off on the radar, but… even before then, I didn't even know you were aware of me."

A small alarm went off somewhere within Evaline's brain, as she wondered exactly what Marley was talking about. Carefully, she asked, "We've met before, right?"

"Oh, sure," Marley said, nodding enthusiastically. "You have been at some of my training sessions, and you've lectured to my cohort, and…"

Evaline, stunned, had to interrupt her. "I'm your… your teacher?"

A look of confusion flashed over Marley's face as she replied, "Well, you're one of the instructors for all new S.H.I.E.L.D agents, especially ones like that me that get tapped for Covert Ops. I've been coming to this coffee shop ever since I moved into the city, especially after I saw you frequented it as well. I figured I could use it as an opportunity to introduce myself to you."

Her mind struggling to process all of the information that Marley's twin had just bestowed upon her, Evaline scrambled to come up with a proper response to the fact that Marley was nothing more than a stranger who knew Evaline, but who Evaline herself should have little to no knowledge of. It didn't stop her from thinking about all she knew about her Marley: an ex punk-rock chick with the bottom roots of her hair dyed blue, who took orders from no one, with a wicked sense of humor that often got her into trouble, and who would probably be the most likely person to survive alone on a deserted island. It was almost the complete opposite of the girl in front of her.

"Look," Marley said before Evaline could speak again, her cheeks flushed and wearing an embarrassed look. "I'm just a lowly S.H.I.E.L.D agent, pretending like I can live amongst the greats. Before your… your accident, you would come to this coffeeshop all the time - sometimes with Captain Rogers, sometimes with Agent Romanov or Wanda Maximoff, but oftentimes by yourself, and even sometimes, you'd come and get this obscenely large order and carry it out. And after your accident, I came here a lot to… honor your memory or something? I'm not really sure, to be honest. It just kind of became part of my routine like it was with yours."

Evaline wasn't sure what amount of detail this version of Marley knew about her accident, but she decided to ere on the side of caution and assumed she knew little to nothing. "And you thought it would be okay to, what? Basically stalk me?"

Flushing a deeper red than her old version of Marley ever had, the girl across from her laughed and nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I guess it does kind of sound like that. But really, I just wanted to stay close to you until I built up to the courage to ask you to be my mentor."

Staring blankly at her, Evaline had a hard time letting the words register in her mind. "Your… your what?"

"My mentor," Marley repeated, seeming a little more emboldened now that the hardest part of the conversation had obviously already been completed. "I want to be follow you, Evaline, because I want to be you."

Letting the words settle for a moment, Evaline finally winced and shook her head as she said, "I'm sorry. I'm not… I'm not fully back to being myself, and I'm not sure that having a shadow or whatever is the best idea right now. I'm sure that if you go through the right avenues, you can get paired with a mentor that far surpasses my abilities to teach you what you need to know, and…"

"I don't want anybody else," Marley said, new resolve in her voice before she let out a tired laugh. "I've been working up for months - months! - to ask you this. Please don't let me down."

Evaline really was going to tell her no, mostly because she had no real reason to say yes to the girl, who she wasn't entirely sure she should even know in this world considering she couldn't drudge up any memories with her in them that took place in the reality they both currently resided in. But something in her face, more than just the similarity with her best friend from her previous reality, made Evaline say something else entirely.

Slowly, she said, "Look, I'm not saying that I'll mentor you as far as espionage and whatnot is concerned, but if you need someone to talk to…"

A wide smile beamed across Marley's face, lighting up her entire expression. "That's better than nothing. I'll take it."

Just then, the barista called out, "Eva, your order's ready!"

Eva turned to accept what she thought would simply be a coffee and a bagel, but instead, the barista slid two obscenely large bags toward her that, upon inspection, Evaline saw were filled with various bagels and pastries. Ogling them, she heard Marley failing to stifle a laugh behind her before she asked, "Need some help?"

"No," Eva said, grateful for the long straps on the bags as she hiked one bag up on each shoulder, easily balancing the weight. "I need to work off last night, anyway. It was nice meeting you, Marley. I'll be looking for you at headquarters."

Marley practically beamed. "That would be great! Thanks, Evaline! I'll be in touch!"

Shaking off the weirdness of her encounter with Marley, who acted more like an eager puppy than the fierce, independent girl with a tempter that she had known in her alternate reality, Evaline began making the trek back to the Tower with her large packages in tow. The amount of energy it took her to process what had just happened with the doppelgänger was enough to distract her from the fact that all her muscles were screaming out in protest as she lugged the order through the heart of New York, earning some dirty and curious looks from bypassers.

She was still thinking about Marley when she arrived at the Tower, straining to match her eye up to the retinal scanner through the side entrance before Friday let her in and into the elevator that took her straight up to the Avengers' units, depositing her right outside the common room floor. After dropping off the enormous bags from the cafe on the island in the middle of the kitchen, Evaline moved back to her room to take off her shoes and put down her things. As she stepped in front of her door to move inside though, the door across from hers swung open, startling her with the fast movement. Her mind quickly turned from the conundrum of Marley as she turned quickly and saw Steve, still half asleep, in his doorway, and remembered that she had woken up in bed with him that morning with little to no explanation.

He relaxed when he saw her, giving her a soft smile as he said, "Good morning."

"Morning," she said, feeling her heart beginning to speed up in her chest as she suddenly realized that her lips were raw, soft, and sore - the way they could be only after one had been thoroughly kissed. She gave him what she hoped was a smile full of levity as she asked, "Sleep well last night?"

Almost instantly, Steve's cheeks began to tinge red as well as he quickly said, "Nothing happened. You just came into my room instead of yours and fell asleep instantly on my bed. I was trying to get Peter to stay in his room, and by the time I came in here, you were already knocked out and I didn't have the heart to wake you up to move you."

Giving him a small smile, feeling her heart rate begin to climb back down as he affirmed she hadn't done anything too ridiculous, Evaline said, "It's fine, Steve. Your bed is far more comfortable than mine, anyway, so I think my subconscious just knew where I needed to be."

Steve looked a little bit surprised at this comment as his cheeks grew redder, but as he opened his mouth to reply, he was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat at the end of the hallway. The two of them both turned toward the sound, Evaline's face growing warmer with embarrassment as well that only grew hotter as she realized Sam was smirking at them from his doorway.

Brightly, he commented, "Good morning to both of you. Sounds like you both had a great ending to your nights, and…"

"If you say one more word," Steve said flatly, his face serious, "I will ruin your good morning."

"And what would I say, exactly?" Sam asked, his grin growing wider. "Would I say that I hope you two had some sweet dreams, or that I'm grateful these walls are so thick, or that… ?"

Steve had lunged for Sam, but the ex-Spec Ops soldier saw him coming and retreated into his room quickly with a yelp, throwing the door shut as a barrier as Steve slammed against it. Their boyish behavior caused Evaline to burst into laughter, her migraine nearly forgotten especially as she saw Steve's smile at her laughter.

She walked by him, pressing her fingertips to his stomach to push herself up onto her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, murmuring to him, "Let him be, Steve."

Just as Steve went to argue with her good-naturedly, Evaline cut him off and called through the door, "Sam, I ran out and grabbed up some pastries and stuff from that cafe around that corner if you can be a man enough to not make teenage boy comments and keep from pissing Steve off."

There was silence from the other side of the door, no doubt Sam's attempt to get Steve to forget about what he had said just moments prior. After waiting for a few moments and still getting no response, Evaline pressed her hand to Steve's stomach, pushing him toward the kitchen as she murmured to him, "Let's not wait him out. We both need sustenance."

Steve looked like he was going to argue, but when Evaline slipped her hand across his abdomen and to his back instead to guide him, he followed her lead. When they arrived in the kitchen, Evaline saw that the smell of the pastries she had brought with her had acted as an alarm as most of the team had congregated from various parts of the Tower. Tony, with help from Wanda and Pepper, was providing some supplemental cooking on the oven, the smell of eggs and spices combining with the bakery smell that had already permeated the common space; Bruce was reading a newspaper in the nook while Vision's eyes trailed over a holographic newsfeed hovering in front of him; Thor was lining up coffee mugs and various creamers while Natasha filled them all; and Peter was sitting at the breakfast bar, his forehead flat on the edge of the countertop and his whole body tense from the after effects of the night before.

The fact that it seemed like such a well-rehearsed morning routine, with the team members moving the way a family did, warmed Evaline's heart as she let herself pause and appreciate the moment.

Steve, mistaking her lack of movement for something else, gently touched her elbow and asked lowly, "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Evaline said, giving him a bright grin that seemed to surprise him for a moment before he smiled as well, earning another kiss on the cheek from Evaline. When she pulled away, still smiling, she admitted, "This is just… perfect."

His expression softening, Steve followed Evaline to the kitchen as their team members finally turned at their arrival. Wanda grinned brightly at her, saying, "Hey, early riser. Thanks for making the cafe run. It's nice to see that some habits are still holding in your memories."

"I have to be honest," Evaline said, taking a seat at the breakfast bar, "I didn't remember. I just somehow ended up at that cafe in my still half-drunk stupor and the barista asked me if I wanted my regular. Imagine my confusion when she piled those two massive bags in front of me instead."

Wanda laughed, earning a quick, soft look from Vision before he returned his gaze back to his newsfeed. The witch, her eyes sparking red with her telepathic powers and the amusement at Evaline's story, said, "Yeah, usually Nat, Steve, or I go with you to pick it up. I'm kind of impressed you managed to haul it all back here yourself."

As Steve took the barstool next to hers, Natasha slid Evaline one of her mugs, this one emblazoned with a wraparound image of Trinity College Library in Dublin. A flash of a memory in which Evaline, in her earlier S.H.I.E.L.D days, had been called to subvert an attempt to steal the Book of Kells with Clint as her only back-up, raced through her mind.

She found herself grinning when she realized the mission had also been her first one after meeting Steve for the first time, and she remembered Clint teasing her incessantly over comms about her interactions with the legendary super soldier. It had done nothing for Evaline's nerves during the mission, but it was a fond memory now.

"Speaking of other members of the team," Evaline said, simply cupping her hands around her mug to soak up the warmth first, "where'd half of them go?"

"Clint and Laura went back to the ranch with the kids, and Hope and Scott had to leave to be at one of Cassie's soccer games this morning. Rhodey just had an early meeting with the Air Force, and Maria and Fury had to head to headquarters for the day," Wanda said, taking stock of the room before her eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a moment. "I'm not sure where Sam is, however."

"Just waiting to make my entrance," Sam said loudly from where he exited out from the hallway of apartments, earning a look from Steve that made him take the long way around the kitchen counter to avoid being in his proximity. As he did so, he passed Peter, who was still seemingly hating his life at one end of the breakfast bar. Using the hand that wasn't currently wrapped around his mug, Sam ruffled Peter's hair a little roughly as he asked, "Big night for the little guy, huh?"

Peter lifted his head only so he could glare at Sam, not even moving to touch his hair, which now stood up in all different directions. Quickly, he snapped, "I'm still less hungover than you were after last year's Halloween party, Falcon."

Just as Sam turned to presumably cut back, Pepper whirled around as well to face Peter, who had frozen in his spot the moment she had begun to turn around. Her voice was sharp as she asked, "What?! How are you hungover?!"

The teenager froze, his face now hidden behind his hands, but Evaline could see his eyes widen as he realized what he had said in front of Pepper, who they had all joked had kind of adopted Peter since he had become part of the team. Everyone else went quiet as Pepper asked, "Who gave him alcohol?!"

"I did," Thor said, shrugging and taking a sip of his coffee, oblivious to the fury that had spilled out across Pepper's face. "On Asgard, boys can drink once they become men. It is a sacred tradition that occurs when they are younger than Mr. Parker here, and…"

He never got to finish as Pepper reached up and swatted him across the arm, surprising him as she looked up the foot-high difference between them and said, "Well, you're on Earth, and in America, where Peter won't legally be able to drink for another four years. So, in this realm, under this roof, you follow those rules."

Searching for an ally, Thor sought out Tony, but Stark simply shook his head as he said, "I'm staying out of it."

Reaching out to grab his coffee mug, which simply had an Air Force ensign on it, Sam teased Peter, asking, "Aren't you supposed to heal super fast or something?"

"Yes," Peter answered, his voice directed to the floor, "but Thor gave me something that he said would bypass even that ability, so… here I am."

Thor's face drained of color as Pepper whirled on him again, and he quickly placed his coffee mug back on the counter, swiping a donut before announcing loudly to the room, "Ah, I feel the Bifrost calling for me! I must go answer!"

As he made a quick exit, Pepper shouted after him, "I'm not stupid! I know that's not how the Bifrost works, Thor!"

"You are such a shit stirrer," Natasha commented to Sam, rolling her eyes although Evaline watched the corner of her mouth twitch in obvious amusement at the trouble he had created.

"At least I keep things interesting," Sam said, reaching in to grab one of the pastries from the top of the pile as everyone else around him took it as an invitation to dig into the feast as well.

As they all gathered around the breakfast bar in and in the nook, jockeying for positions and taking up seats wherever they could find them, they all regaled stories of last night: Peter pulling a muscle in an attempt to lift Mjolnir off the coffee table, Wanda swearing she saw one of Bruce's veins turn green after he and Vision lost to her and Maria at Peer Bong, Tony presenting Thor with a bill to cover all the glasses he had broken with his brute strength, and more.

In the middle of Natasha reminiscing about the previous year's Halloween party that Peter had alluded to previously, Evaline's phone began ringing, Maria Hill's name popping up on the caller ID. Still grinning as Natasha went into great detail about just how drunk Sam had been, Evaline moved off her barstool and to the side of the room, in an attempt to lessen the volume of the conversation she had left behind as she answered the phone. "Hey, Maria. What's up?"

Maria wasted no time at all saying, "Hey, Eva. We need you to come in to headquarters."

Her eyes flickering over to where her team, her family, were all smiling and enjoying themselves, Evaline felt herself frown as she realized she was about to disrupt the happy morning. Steve, who somehow sensed her discord, turned and lost his smile as well as a look of concern flashed over his features and he began sliding off his barstool to walk over to her.

She turned away from him, keeping her voice low as she asked, "What? Why? What's happened?"

Unsure of what, exactly, she had been preparing herself for - a bomb in a major metropolitan area, news on the Mystery Man, or a good old fashioned bank robbery - she was not expecting what Maria said next.

"We found Luke."


	19. Chapter 19

The shock of Maria's statement must have shown visibly on her face, because as soon as Evaline blinked, Steve had already crossed halfway across the room to her, the question and concern still contorting his features. Not to be left out, Natasha turned away from where the group was still regaling each others with stories of revelry, meeting Evaline's eyes.

Quickly, she waved the Soviet spy off, although the motion of her hand waving in the air wasn't enough to deter Steve, who now stepped to her, gentle hands on her waist. She raised a single finger in his direction before asking Maria, "Did I hear you correctly?"

"If you heard me say we found Luke," Maria said, her voice sarcastic yet tight, "then yes."

Steve's eyes, more than a half a foot above hers, widened as his ears caught Maria's words through the small speaker at the bottom of the phone. Before either he or Evaline could open their mouth to ask all the questions bouncing through their minds, however, Maria interrupted both of them by saying, "Keep in mind, this is just the tracker that we put in agents. It may not even be his actual location, but we've sent agents to go check the situation out."

Her mouth moving before her mind thought about the words that would fall out, Evaline's next question came out as more of a demand. "Where."

"In Austria, we think in an old Hydra base that we had smoked out years ago," Maria said, her wince audible even through the phone line as Steve tensed beside Evaline. Gently, she reached out and touched a hand to his shoulder, relaxing him only slightly after the mention of the Nazi-inspired villain organization that had affected both of their lives so much and so negatively.

Pulling away from him, Evaline began to turn toward her room, asking, "When do I leave?"

"Evaline," Steve and Maria said simultaneously, although the Captain spoke more out of surprise while Maria's was a weary sigh.

Maria was the one who continued to speak after her chastising, saying, "It's not a matter of just jetting over there to pluck Luke out of whatever decrepit base they have him in. This is a covert op inside of a covert op, and it must be played out carefully."

"Then send me with Beta Team," Evaline said, feeling Steve stalking after her, following at just a half-step behind her. "And I guess send Steve, too."

She heard him half laugh, half scoff from behind her, but her focus was mostly on Maria's voice at the other end of the line as it fell to mumbling, obvious as it was that she was conferring with someone else as she moved her mouth away from the comms. No doubt she was running the plan by Fury; it seemed every decision regarding Evaline's actions had to be cleared by him, regardless of whose idea or order it was.

"Fine," Maria finally came back, as Evaline gave Steve a quick nod as she watched his features tense. "You'll take Vision, Wanda, Sam, Natasha, and Steve. We're sending coordinates to you now. If Stark gives you a hard time about him tagging along, remind him of his other responsibilities and that he can call Fury if he wants to complain."

"I have no problem with that," Evaline said as she began headed back to the main kitchen area, Steve following closely behind. "Is it just us? You're not meeting up with us there?"

"Not this time," Maria said, genuine regret in her voice. "I wish I could help you all go rescue him, but we've got some various fires to put out here before they become full-on infernos. We'll send an extra team of agents into the field for back-up if you need it, but I won't be with them."

"Sounds good to me. We'll call you when it's done," Evaline said before she hung up the phone, turning back to Steve, who raised both eyebrows at her. She confirmed to his unasked question, "We're headed to Austria."

A voice from behind him asked, "We, as in who?"

As she bothered to look past Steve's shoulder, she saw all of her teammate's curious looks had been turned to where she and Steve had stepped aside. Evaline threw Steve a quick look, but he just gestured in front of him, as if allowing her to take command of the situation.

So, she did.

She stepped forward, in front of Steve, and addressed their teammates, saying, "Maria said they found a location on Luke, finally. It's in an old Hydra base in Austria, but we don't know much beyond that. She wants me to take Wanda, Natasha, Sam, Vision, and Steve with me to go scope it out."

Drying his hands on a nearby towel as he had been in the midst of cleaning dishes, Tony said, "I'm coming, too."

Evaline shook her head, saying, "Maria and Fury agreed you wouldn't, because of the covert manner of the mission. No offense, Tony, but a metallic gold and red suit isn't exactly stealth mode."

Tony's eyes turned to Vision, who was meditating in his seat at the nook as the Infinity Stone in his forehead illuminated the room with gold light. "And the Teletubby over there with a lighthouse beacon coming out of his face is considered stealth?"

"He can turn invisible and float through walls, so yeah. Stealth," Evaline cut back, earning a grateful look from Wanda and an appreciative smirk from both Steve and Pepper. Tony, as childish as ever, gave her a petulant frown and opened his mouth to argue further; she cut him off by replying, "Take it up with Fury, Tony, but we're going without you."

"Agent Kaeser in charge!" Sam hooted with enjoyment, a wide smile on his face as he clapped his hands on Tony's shoulder, whose annoyed look turned murderous at the ex-soldier's touch. "Wow, have I missed Eva putting you in your place, man."

Tony twisted out from underneath Sam's grip, turning to glare at him. "You're so lucky I don't have the suit on right now."

"Oh, I know if you wanted to take me for real that you'd have that thing on you in under a minute and my ass would be grass," Sam said brightly, still grinning wildly. "You love me, Stark."

As Tony reached to his neck, where they all knew the remote for one of his suits lay, Sam took off at a fast clip back to his room so he wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of his words. Natasha, unfolding herself from the barstool she had been perching on, ignored their immaturity as she said, "Well, we better head out now. Meet at the Quinjet in ten?"

"Yeah," Evaline agreed, eyeing where Peter still laid with his head pressed to the edge of the countertop. "Tony, your mission is to work with Bruce and come up with some sort of hangover cure for Peter. He looks absolutely miserable."

Peter just gave a simple grunt of confirmation as Tony rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"I have to head into the office anyway, so I expect you to make an appearance later, too," Pepper said, giving her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek before she exited by Evaline, squeezing her shoulder in encouragement. "Good luck, Ev. I hope you find him."

"Me, too," Evaline said, giving her a grateful smile before the rest of the group all broke up, headed to their respective rooms to either prepare for the mission or get ready for the rest of their day.

As they walked to their rooms, Steve asked Evaline, "What is it about this guy that's got you so riled up?"

"He, or his doppelgänger or whatever, was my best friend in my other reality," Evaline said, shivering as the two memories of the real Luke and her Luke clashed together. "I don't know this reality's Luke that well, I don't think. And while I have my memories from this reality, I also… I also still have my memories from that other reality, and they both feel true to me. So, in my mind, he's one of my best friends - even if in this world, he has no idea who I am."

They had made it to Steve's room as he stepped inside, Evaline following along as she waited in the doorway and he moved to his closet. His words were careful, tight with tension, as he asked, "Are you prepared for what we might find?"

"Of course," Evaline responded, a little more sharply than she intended as Steve turned to peak an eyebrow at her. She took in a deep breath and then said more calmly, "Of course. I'm not naive."

"Okay," Steve said, although his inflection implied he was still less than convinced. Just as she was about to open her mouth to argue with him further, to prove that she would be fine, Evaline saw Steve slide open the left paneled door of his closet and she stopped in her tracks. Although she had seen him go into his closet before, numerous times, she had never seen him open the left sided door before.

The left side of his closet was entirely filled with various versions of his Captain America uniform.

She eyed the row of uniforms, a little wide eyed and surprised, all swaying from their hangers like they were just t-shirts. Steve, noting her slightly stunned expression, grinned as he asked, "What, did you think I only had the one uniform?"

"Well, no," Evaline admitted slowly, taking in the different hues of red, white, and blue that spread out in front of her. "But I also didn't imagine that the uniforms would just be hanging out in your closet. Like, do you get them dry cleaned? Is that some S.H.I.E.L.D intern's job, to wash the blood out of your uniforms after?"

Letting out a booming laugh that caused the corners at his eyes to wrinkle, and allowed for the tension in Evaline's shoulders to release just a little, Steve reached over and ran a hand along his uniforms. "No. Despite the fact that we are superheroes, we do our own laundry. Or we burn them if its alien blood."

He had turned away from her, unable to see the new array of questions that flooded her face, interrupting her thoughts with a single movement as he lifted his shirt off his torso. Now, she was staring at him for a different reason as he brazenly changed right in front of her. He tugged on the upper half of his uniform before turning, curiosity and a small smile on his face as he asked, "What?"

"Nothing," Evaline said, quickly turning away from him to hide her reddened cheeks and slightly disappointed look that he had donned another shirt. "Just… such a super casual mention of alien blood."

Steve laughed again, making Evaline's blood thrum with a different kind of pleasure. "Welcome to the Avengers, Ev. That's kind of a regular thing at this point."

"Well, I better go run and grab my stuff to protect me from so-called alien blood," Evaline said, looking for any exit she could before Steve started removing his pants. She could feel him watching her, and noted the entertained smile on his face out of the corner of her eye as she flashed back one look at him before her cheeks warmed and she turned back to the door. "Meet you on the jet?"

"Sounds good," Steve replied as Evaline opened the door and stepped through, shutting it closed just as she heard him pull the zipper on his pants.

She all but ran into her room to keep herself from going back into Steve's, busying herself with grabbing her go bag and changing into one of the tactical uniforms that had been waiting for her in her closet the first day she had arrived at Stark Tower. After stuffing her bag full in case they mission turned into an unexpectedly long one, she shouldered it and headed to the launch pad, where Steve, Sam, and Natasha were all already running the pre-flight checks on the Quinjet as Vision stood in peaceful silence in the belly of the jet.

All of them had chosen their stealth uniforms for the excursion except for Vision, who seemed to only have the kelly green and gold ensemble that Evaline had seen him wear multiple times before. Natasha's tactical suit bore a lot of resemblances to the one that Evaline wore, although hers had purple accents while Evaline's had blue; Steve wore the dark navy and black suit that seemed as if it had been made to match Evaline's; and even Sam's metallic suit bore dark grey metal that wouldn't catch in the light.

Just as Sam confirmed they were good for take off, Wanda sprinted onto the jet as well, breathing a little heavily as she used her telekinesis to lift her own go bag into the cargo hold above their heads. Natasha peaked an eyebrow at her tardiness and asked, "Couldn't decide what to wear?"

Wanda, who was wearing a crimson and black body suit with a jacket that flare out at the hips, blushed underneath Natasha's gaze. "It's a new uniform, and required a little more… wiggling to get into. These things are skin tight, no joke."

Evaline was inclined to agree, as she moved with her suit feeling like a second skin as they prepared for the mission. With Sam flying the plane, Evaline and Natasha helped Steve pull up what little information they knew about the warehouse they'd be storming. They received intel from drones in the area that there were multiple heat signatures present, so they planned a storm and siege mired with stealth as they didn't truly know which of the heat signatures belonged to Luke.

They spent the several hours on their way to Austria going through the plan, step by step, backwards and frontwards until Evaline and the rest of them could have repeated it in their sleep. When they finally arrived at the warehouse, Evaline felt her muscles actually relax as she stepped back into her warrior mode and emptied her thoughts of any clutter, any emotional attachment to Luke in order to not be distracted by whatever waited for them within.

Sam set the Quinjet down about half a mile away from the warehouse, keeping the jet in stealth mode the entire time so the trees and technology camouflaged it well before they all set out to the lone building looming in the distance. The old Hydra base was an warehouse, now twice abandoned if not more, that practically emanated malevolence as Evaline felt the tension tightening. They all approached with caution, Steve of course leading the group as they made it the front doors, tentatively pushing the large warehouse doors in as they squealed in protest.

Stealth mode now ruined, Steve simply jammed the doors open at full strength, slamming them back until they hit the walls on the other side. Quickly, he lifted his shield in front of him, in expectation of a potential assault; in unison, Natasha, Sam, and Evaline raised their guns while Vision and Wanda raised their hands, both of their telepathic powers manifesting physically in the form of auras between their palms.

All of their preparation went unneeded, however, as the warehouse was empty.

As they spread out into the main lobby of the warehouse, Evaline noticed there were three hallways jutting off to move further into the building. While one progressed in a straight line to what she could only assume was the back of the warehouse, the hallways on the left and right sides curved gently to form a circle that the center hallway cut a line clean through. Walls surrounded all three of the hallways, so it was impossible to see beyond the metal sheets, except where they all met again at the other end of the warehouse.

Vaguely, Evaline remembered watching the footage from this specific base being stormed by S.H.I.E.L.D to flush out the Hydra agents that had taken up residence within. Although she herself had not been present, as she had been on a different mission involving some dignitaries in Tokyo with Natash, as she had watched it in the briefing that followed, mostly because Steve had been struck with some alien weapon that had actually left him with a ragged scar over his left rib cage.

She knew any Hydra base they went to was going to stir something dark within Steve's soul, but considering this was where he had actually been wounded enough to leave a scar, Evaline also knew the encounter had shaken him more than most - especially when he had called shortly after, which he never did when she was on a mission as well. Nothing that some of his fear and uncertainty still hung around him to this day like a shroud as he took in the warehouse, Evaline reached out a gentle hand to give his a squeeze.

He startled for a moment before relaxing, giving her a tight smile, and returning the gesture before the expression of the Captain shadowed over his face. Letting go of her hand, Steve quickly took control of the situation like he always did, doling out assignments to the heroes scattered around him.

"Nat and Wanda, you take the left wing. Vision and Sam, take the right. Evaline and I will take the center, and we'll all meet up at the other side of the circle."

Sam looked like he was going to argue about being partnered up the android, but nobody stayed behind to listen to his grievances as the other two teams turned toward their respective hallways and the group split up into three.

As Evaline walked beside Steve into their hallway, she saw rows of doors on either side of the hallway as she threw Steve a questioning look. He pressed his lips together for a moment before telling her, "We'll each take a door at the same time, and call out if we need back-up."

Nodding, Evaline unholstered her gun and flashlight as she lifted them both and headed to the first door, opening it wide and taking a quick step back in case any sort of trap had been set. She nearly bumped into Steve who was doing the same set of motions across the hallway, both of them holding their breaths for a few silent, tense moments before they realized neither of their rooms contained anything but some rust and dust.

They continued this routine all the way down the hallway, until entering the last two rooms at the end. As she entered her last room after waiting outside the doorway for any attackers or traps to spring, Evaline swept her eyes around and was sure that it was empty until she used her flashlight to check the corners and saw the light beam catch on something near the back wall of the room. Although it was obvious it was no sort of living organism that could attack Evaline, her earlier conversation with Steve about alien blood reared its head as she kept her flashlight and gun leveled at what could easily still be some threat.

As she stepped closer to it, however, she spotted the tracker she assumed had once been in Luke's neck, with pieces of skin still attached to the crude device as it wallowed in a dark and not-quite-clotted pool of crimson blood. Next to the puddle of blood laid a single note on yellow notepad paper, catching Evaline's eye as she noticed that her name graced the top of it. Quickly checking behind her to ensure that Steve had not caught back up to her, Evaline quickly squatted next to the puddle, lifting the note as she began to read the nearly perfect handwriting.

 _Agent Kaeser -_

 _I expect that this note finds you in good health. I cannot say as much for your friend Luke._

 _I digress. The real reason I leave behind this note is to let you know that I have great plans for you, my dear Evaline, and Luke is a part of those plans - all to be divulged at a later time. I like to keep you on your toes, but know this: this near miss (or hit?) was no accident. I just hope this place triggers the memories that both you and I need for these plans to work._

 _Do not tell anyone on your team about this note, and do not think for a second that I won't know. Remember - I was once inside your head. (Who's to say I'm not, still?) If you speak, Luke - and others - will be in danger._

 _Keep quiet, for now. I have great plans for you, Agent Kaeser. I'll be in touch soon._

 _\- Your "Mystery Man"_

Evaline's mind whirled as she considered the imminent threat to both herself and Luke if she called out for Steve and showed him the note, or anyone else for that matter. She spent what felt like lifetimes cradling the note in her hand, until she heard Steve say into the comm, "Nat, can you check on Evaline? She's in that room to your right."

Before she could even properly weigh all the benefits and disadvantages of her action, Evaline quickly slid the note into her pocket over her left hip before grabbing the tracker, still bloodied, with her free, gloved hand. Turning, she presented it to Natasha, who had entered the room through the door Evaline had stepped through moments before. Natasha frowned when she saw the tracker in Evaline's outstretched palm, as she confirmed, "This is all that's left of him."

The Russian assassin took the tracker from her hand, holding it between her own gloved fingers as she inspected it with one squinted eye. "There's still a little bit of muscle attached to it. Obviously, this wasn't taken out with a surgical precision."

Feeling her stomach do a flip in her abdomen, Evaline cleared her throat of the bile that had begun to climb its way up her throat. "Could he have survived the removal? That's a relatively large pool of blood."

"That's nothing," Natasha said casually, shrugging her shoulders as if they weren't talking about a comparative amount of blood. "He's probably fine, or at least that isn't the wound that would be his demise."

Again, Evaline's internal organs did a gymnastics set as her nerves all tightened. Just as she was debating whether or not to rush for the nearest bathroom or dark corner to empty her stomach's contents, Steve peeked his head into the door, his eyes zeroing in almost immediately to the tracker between Natasha's fingers as he asked, "Is that is?"

"Seems to be," Natasha said, as Steve reached behind his back to reattach his shield to his shoulders before pulling something out of one of the various pockets on the belt around his waist. Moments later, he was holding out a clear plastic bag to Natasha, and she smirked as she dropped the tracker into it, Steve sealing it before placing it back into the same pocket while Natasha commented, "Nice utility belt, Cap."

Ignoring the jab, and his voice that of the Captain he was disguised as, Steve asked, "Did you find anything else?"

Evaline was unsure if she was being paranoid that Natasha's gaze turned to her, but she quickly attributed it to the fact that she was the one who had first laid eyes on the tracker. She shook her head to clear it, then forced herself to meet her boyfriend's eyes as she lied. "Just the pool of blood that the tracker was in."

Holding up the container she had placed it in, Natasha shook it as the tracker bounced off the plastic walls, another part of the muscle dislodging from its edges. Even Steve winced at the sight before he said, "Okay, then let's clear out. There's not much else to see here."

They followed Steve's directive, meeting back up with the four others of their group at the back of the warehouse, like they had previously planned. When they revealed that they had found nothing, and Vision and Wanda both confirmed they couldn't sense any other life forms in the building besides theirs, they all piled back into the Quinjet and prepared for the ride home. After Steve secured his shield on the wall and removed the helmet from his head, he turned to where Evaline was sitting, leaning down to her so their eyes became level. She met his earnest gaze with a curious one of her own, and he whispered to her gently, "Don't worry, Ev. We'll find him."

With a quick kiss to her forehead, Steve stepped back and moved to the front of the plane, taking up his position behind the two seats where Natasha and Sam were acting as pilot and co-pilot for the ride back. Wanda reached over from beside her and gave Evaline's hand a reassuring squeeze, opening her mouth to say something before the roar of the engines drowned her out and they both leaned back in their seats to prepare for takeoff.

With the note nearly burned a hole in her pocket, the weight of her lie to her team and her subsequent guilt pressed heavily against her shoulders the entire ride home.


	20. Chapter 20

When they arrived back at base, Wanda was the only one who seemed to notice that Evaline was a little bit quieter than usual. However, Evaline simply explained away her concerned questions by explaining that the mission had been a little too much excitement for her, a reason that Wanda readily believed as Evaline slid away from the group and headed back to her room.

The moment the door was closed behind her, she removed the note from the Mystery Man out of her pocket and slipped it into one of the drawers of the hawthorn wood desk stretching along the left side of her room, hiding it between handwritten letters from her mom and her niece and nephew. Now that it wasn't physically on her body, she felt a little bit of the weight lifted from her shoulders; however, the stress of the secret she was now going to have to keep was already beginning to eat away at her.

She slipped into the shower and changed her clothes, heading directly to bed as it was currently about 11 PM in New York City. Just as she laid down, she heard the door open, and she willed herself to keep her eyes shut, not wishing to speak to anybody in fear she would come undone. She even squeezed her eyes shut as Steve's scent carried throughout the room and she felt his concerned gaze on her body. He remained in the doorway for almost a full minute, lingering, before giving up with a sigh and closing the door to presumably retreat to his own room for the night.

Evaline remained supine, staring up at the skylights on the top of her ceiling as she watched the stars above New York City, counting them until she could feel herself dozing. It took her a while to drift off, but when she did, she fell into an incredibly lucid dream that felt as if she had been transported back to the warehouse they had just escaped from. As she looked around at her surroundings in her dream, she realized that was true: it was the same warehouse, although it was not empty.

H.Y.D.R.A. banners hung from the ceilings, some of them singed as if small fires had erupted periodically throughout the warehouse, and there were a large variety of abandoned and broken pieces of technology spread throughout. S.H.I.E.L.D agents were crawling everywhere, although when Evaline looked down at her own hands, she could tell some sort of fight had just occurred. She had one cut still actively bleeding just a few inches above her left hip, and her knuckles were pulsating with pressure.

"Evaline!"

The sound of her name came through the dream like it was being shouted from underwater. As she turned, she spotted Wanda coming to her in battlefield garb: her girded and bulletproof maroon leather duster, combat boots, a corset lined with Vibranium, and her hair pulled back into a braid. As she neared Evaline, somehow she knew that this Wanda was one of the not-so-distant past - and that meant that this was a memory, not a dream.

As she continued to gaze around her surroundings, Evaline spotted various members of her team scattered throughout the warehouse, assisting with various tasks: Tony, fully suited up, blasting holes in the wall to reveal the safes and small caves hidden beneath the structure with Scott right beside him, shrinking to ant size to presumably go scavenge through said walls; Bruce and Vision conferring over some ancient-looking computer as it lit up their faces in the dim lighting of the warehouse; Natasha and Maria helping S.H.I.E.L.D agents round up and cart off the H.Y.D.R.A agents they had found; and last but not least, Steve, in his stealth uniform, staring up stoically at one of the banners still hanging and no doubt having some very disturbing flashbacks.

Past Wanda walked up to her, her eyebrows furrowed in concern as her eyes took stock of Evaline's injuries and her dazed expression. "Everything alright?"

"I'm fine. 'Tis but a scratch," Evaline said automatically, motioning vaguely to the cut across her stomach as her eyes instinctively roved back over to where Steve was standing, surrounded by ghosts. "Just worried about him."

Giving her a knowing and slightly secretive smile, Wanda said, "I bet you are."

"I hate you," Evaline sighed, shaking her head as she continued to watch Steve. "I know he needs someone to talk to, but he just keeps pushing me away."

"Well, don't let him," Wanda said sagely from beside her as she watched the Captain. When Evaline remained silent and standing beside her, Wanda gave her a little nudge with her elbow as she said, "Evaline. Go to him, and get him out of whatever dark place he's headed into. Or at least be his companion if he decides to go to that dark place."

Evaline gave her friend a doubtful look, but Wanda just nudged her forward again as Evaline sighed and advanced toward the Captain. Quietly, she stepped up next to him, also eyeing the H.Y.D.R.A. banners that hung above them for several moments before Steve almost whispered, "I'm just tired of seeing this sign."

Casting a quick glance at his face, Evaline noted the lines that were in the supposedly ageless man's skin, the wrinkles at the corners of his frown competing with the crow's feet at the corner of each of his eyes. The skin between his eyebrows also lumped together as they furrowed, and he shook his head sadly and continued to talk in Evaline's silence. "It pisses me off that their stupid mantra is so right: cut off one head, and two more appear. I feel like we're never going to eradicate them fully, and everything we've done, all the time and people we've lost, will have been for nothing."

Distantly, Evaline recognized that at this moment in time, Steve had no idea that Bucky was still alive, albeit a little without his own mind. Her subconscious yelled at her to tell him, to offer him some relief, but obviously the past version of her did not quite know this information yet, and so she said instead, "We're getting somewhere. I know it doesn't feel like it when this is all we've been doing, just jumping from base to base with few to no breaks in between, but we are getting somewhere."

He finally moved his gaze away from the banners, lowering his eyes to hers and looking as if he were about to argue, but he lost his words as soon as their looks locked. There was a tension that crackled between them, something banal and innate that Evaline couldn't fight any longer as she reached out and touched his arm, saying, "Steve, I…"

The super soldier flinched like her touch had burned him, and she did too, mostly from the hurt of being rejected so. Before she could stop herself, Evaline commented sharply, "Sorry for trying to help you."

Quickly turning on her heel, she wiped away the traitorous tears that had sprung up into her eyes as she spotted a quick exit out of the warehouse. She made a beeline for the door, hearing quick footsteps coming up behind her as she tried to outrace whoever was following her, determined not to let them see what were surely her bloodshot eyes.

Making it to the door, Evaline threw it open and exited out into the fresh air and overcast Austrian day as a voice called out from behind her, "Wait. Eva!"

She whirled around as the door slammed shut behind Steve, booming like dynamite and echoing throughout the otherwise silent surroundings as she snapped, "What?"

Steve ripped off his helmet as his blonde hair flew in different directions, sticking up due to the combination of sweat and static electricity from the fight. Cuts and bruises threatened to mar his face, but Evaline noted distantly they'd all be gone in a few days time, like this fight had never happened.

"Look," Steve said, his blue eyes tortured and sad, "you know how I feel about this, about you."

Evaline perked up an eyebrow, asking sardonically, "Oh, do I?"

He sighed, rubbing his hand along his jaw, which she noted had golden-tinged stubble beginning to edge out of it. "Eva, please."

"'Please' what, Steven?" she ground out, earning a flinch from him at the full use of his name. "Please don't try to console you when you're having an existential crisis? Please don't try to be your teammate and friend? Please don't care about you at all?"

Steve's eyes darkened - with what, Evaline was unsure. "You know that's not what I'm asking."

"Then ask me," Evaline said, stepping closer to him and getting into his personal space, only inches away from him and a foot below as she craned her head to glare up at him. "Use your words, Steven Rogers, and verbalize what you think is happening here, and what you want to happen. I'm tired of trying to read and interpret your silences, because apparently I've been doing it incorrectly for the last several months."

Steve winced, "You haven't, but… but I made a mistake."

Feeling her face empty of any emotion, Evaline's voice was flat as she repeated, "A mistake."

"I'm not the right choice for you," Steve said quickly, as if he had rehearsed the speech he was about to give her. "I barely know myself right now, with being so freshly out of the ice, and I can't give you what you need, or what you want. I'm a super soldier with a relatively ambiguous beginning and an even more questionable future. Even I don't know the full extent of what I'm capable of doing, and…"

"You're not saying anything I don't already know," Evaline cut him off, crossing her arms over her chest so she wouldn't be tempted to reach out to him and only be turned away once again. Meeting his eyes fully, heavily, she reiterated, "None of that matters to me, Steve."

Steve laughed darkly, looking slightly pained as he did so. "Well, it should!"

Throwing up her hands in exasperation, Evaline cried, "Why?! None of it matters to me, so why does it matter to you?! I just don't…"

"Because I'll age, and you won't, and I…" Steve's voice broke, and as he shook his head, Evaline was surprised to see tears glittering as they flung from his cheeks. "And I can't continue to watch people I love die."

Now, it was Evaline's turn for her eyes to water, especially as Steve turned red with the words he had chosen and he made no move to retract or change them. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that he was thinking of his past comrades - of Bucky, who was presumed dead, and Howard Stark in his grave, and Peggy Carter with full-on Alzhemier's in her retirement home - and how he had left them all behind when he had crashed that plane into the water.

Her heart slamming against her ribcage, especially as he expectantly waited for her response, Evaline said weakly, "Steve, I…"

The door behind them leading into the warehouse slammed open, startling both of them, especially Steve as it brushed against the shield that was attached to his back. Maria poked her head out of the door and said, "Sorry to interrupt, but we're just trying to evacuate out a high-value target."

A solid mass of S.H.I.E.L.D soldiers exited out of the door, another circle around them with their guns raised as Evaline noticed every muscle in Steve tense. As she tried to eye the criminal in the middle of the group, the scene in front of her fractured into pieces, static covering the screen as she distantly heard Maria ask, "Cap, you coming with?"

Evaline turned her head to where Steve stood beside her, the image clearing as she caught the apologetic look on his face. Before he could even say anything to her, however, Evaline had turned on her heel and had headed back inside the warehouse, feeling Steve's eyes heavily on her the entire way until the door closed between them. Keeping her head down, Evaline quickly walked by the crowds of S.H.I.E.L.D agents and her teammates gathered in the main atrium of the warehouse, slipping into one of the rooms as she closed the door behind her and cut off all of the extraneous noise attempting to leak in from outside.

She was surprised to feel the stinging tears in her eyes, which she tore off a tactical glove to quickly wipe away as her adrenaline surged. Leaning over one of the chairs that surrounded the table in the center of the room, she grabbed the back of it and, almost involuntarily, threw it against the wall with a roar as her anger and frustration at her interaction with Steve rushed through her body.

Having underestimated the light weight of the chair and her own strength, Evaline flinched as the chair crashed through the wall to her far right. It tore like paper, and something flashed like a strobe light between the beams. Evaline was quick to lift up her gun and flashlight in case it turned out to be something nefarious, but as she neared it, all she could see was a metallic business suitcase with a lock on the side. She knew she should wait for their Bomb Squad to come and clear it before she picked it up, but her curiosity got the best of her as she reached over and plucked the piece of luggage from the wreck.

As she spun it around to observe it a little more closely, she realized the lock was some sort of digital mess but antique-looking, as if it had been created in the 40s or 50s by someone far ahead of their time. Considering it was in a H.Y.D.R.A. base, Evaline knew that it was definitely within the realm of possibility that the suitcase was actually a relic from when they had been at their peak, but she couldn't determine that definitively.

Careful to carry it levelly in case it could be triggered by too much movement or any such thing, Evaline exited the room and brought it directly over to Fury, who was making the last call on what they would be bringing back to Headquarters with them versus what would be left behind for the S.H.I.E.L.D agents stationed in Austria to rifle through. As Fury turned toward her, Evaline noted that one of the scars on his face that she knew well in her present day version was gone, further verifying that this was a moment of the past. Still, he had plenty of scars that speckled across his skin, and one of his eyeballs was still gone as he peaked his good eyebrow and asked, "Yes, Kaeser?"

"Found this in one of the room's walls, sir," Evaline said, surprising herself with how much like a soldier she sounded. Handing the suitcase over, she carefully watched Fury, who seemed to pale a little bit as he took in the case's dimensions and the intricate lock on one side. Curiosity won the best of her as she asked, "Sir? What do you think it is?"

"Nothing good," Fury said in that vague way of his, his one good eye shooting back up to look at Evaline. "You tell no one about this, Kaeser - and I mean no one. Not Barton, not Romanov, not Rogers. You hear me?"

Present Evaline wanted to question Fury, especially as she saw the tightness in his features, but past Evaline was too good of a soldier to do so as she responded, "Sir, yes, sir."

Turning from her, Fury briskly walked to his own personal car as she spotted him placing the suitcase into a hidden compartment in the flooring by the passenger's seat. When he turned back around to face her again, his face was grim when suddenly, the memory began to fracture and static out for the second time.

The only clear thing was a shadowy figure, the taunting voice of the Mystery Man calling out, "Have you figured it out yet? Have you found what I left for you?"

Evaline's mind burst into what felt like a million pieces as she began screaming, both in her dream and real life. She half-woke up, being pulled between her reality and the dream as she felt the fracturing in her mind begin to work its way down her body, threatening to split her into two until she felt someone grab her, nearly pulling her straight out of bed. Still screaming, she quickly reached out and hit whoever was assailing her, seeing only the shadowy figure of the Mystery Man.

The hands loosened a little bit on her arms, but only one came off as a muffled voice not belonging to the Mystery Man commented, "Damn."

A sardonic voice called out, "Language, Cap. Nice hit, Eva."

It was that comment that made Evaline come to her senses and realize she was no longer trapped in the nightmare of her own mind. As her vision faded from shots of black and red, she took in the scene around her: the bedroom door, halfway off its hinges; Steve sitting in front of her, one hand on her and the other pinching the bridge of his nose that was bleeding out of both of nostrils; and the assortment of her friends that had gathered at the doorway, Tony, Wanda, and Natasha at the front.

"What…" She cleared her throat, then tried again, asking, "What's going on?"

"You tell us," Natasha said flatly, although her eyebrows were pulled together slightly in concern. "You were the one who was just screaming as if you were getting murdered."

Fully awake now, Evaline quickly reached over to her bedside table and grabbed for a box of tissues, pulling out a wad of them before holding them up to Steve's nose. She distantly heard him mutter a thank you, but guilt made her ignore the misguided appreciation as she turned to the group at the door instead and gave them a surprised look. "How did you even hear me? Aren't these walls like super sound proofed because of Scott's incessant snoring when he stays here?"

"Yes," Tony admitted, worry etched into the drawn lines of his face, "but I also set up Friday to alert us if something… alarming was happening. You screaming bloody murder apparently set that off, and she woke up all of us."

Evaline had been wondering belatedly how Tony had managed to hear her in his penthouse suite, but now it made a little more sense if he had Friday set up to alert him, too. Still, she bristled once again at Tony's over-protectiveness, saying, "I don't need to be continually monitored…"

"Obviously, you do," Tony responded back tightly, the concern in his face replaced with agitation and a little bit of exhaustion. "Anyway, it was set up long before you had your accident, and it's set up to monitor everyone - not just you."

Still holding the tissues to his nose, Steve chastised, "Tony."

Tony looked as if he was about two seconds away from rolling his eyes as Wanda stepped in quickly, acting as referee like usual as she said carefully, "Maybe it's better if we don't have an inquisition right now. Eva's okay, she'll let us know if she's not."

More than anything, Evaline's eyes wanted to dart over to the desk where the note from her Mystery Man lay, to signify that she was most definitely not okay. She wanted to tell her team, her family, all about the note, about her concerns for Luke, and about the mysterious dream she had just had that she believed was truly a lost memory. She wanted to question them about the warehouse takeover, about the mysterious suitcase she had found, about what it all meant… but the note's script flew in front of her eyes.

 _If you speak, Luke - and others - will be in danger._

"It was just a nightmare," Evaline said with an attempt at an apologetic smile, noting that none of her teammates looked thoroughly convinced. "Thank you all for coming to check up on me. I'm sorry I woke everyone."

One by one, they dispersed, Tony having basically to be dragged away by Wanda. Steve remained on the bed with Evaline, both of them waiting in silence until they heard no further voices or noises coming from the hallway outside. Only when the last door clicked shut did Evaline let the breath she had inadvertently been holding loose, reaching forward to her boyfriend.

"Jesus, Steve, I'm so sorry," Evaline said, brushing her fingertips gently across his cheekbones, which were already beginning to bruise. The bleeding from his nose had stopped, however, and he didn't flinch as she touched him. "I… I thought you were the Mystery Man."

Steve's expression darkened. "He was in your nightmare?"

"Sort of," Evaline said, shaking her head as a pulse of pain seared through her skull. She fisted the mattress beneath her, Steve's hand gently going to brace her arm before the pain passed and she opened her eyes again. "I think… I think it was a memory, actually - but it's really repressed or something, I'm not sure. It hurts and it's broken when I try to bring it back up and…"

"Hey," Steve said, brushing her hair back so he could cup her jaw and calm her down. Evaline ended up biting her lip, and he leaned up to untangle it with his own lips, still gently kissing her as he asked, "You don't have to tell me about it, if you don't want to."

The problem was, she did want to. She wanted to tell Steve everything about her memories, just to determine what was real and what may not be accurate or true. She wanted to question him about the suitcase to see if he knew anything, and she wanted to ask him about how they had gone from Steve turning her away at every opportunity to the level of comfort they were at now.

But again, the image of the Mystery Man's note shot through Evaline's skull.

Shuddering, she pulled a little bit away from Steve as she said, "Okay. Maybe later, then."

His blue eyes looking up into hers and catching in a swatch of moonlight coming from the skylights above, Steve leaned his whole body toward hers and slipped his hands further behind her hips and asked quietly, "You know you can tell me anything and everything, right?"

A lump lodged her in throat, formed by the lie she was attempting to force herself to tell to him. Instead, she decided to respond with action as she leant down and kissed him, her fingers curling in the curve of his jaw.

Although he seemed initially surprised, Steve quickly deepened the kiss, leaning his torso over Evaline's legs and wrapping his arms around the very lower part of her back, pulling her across the top of the bed so she came closer to him. Quickly, Evaline's mind emptied of everything except Steve's fingers traveling under the blanket and reminding her she only wore a pair of boyshorts, of Steve's lips moving from hers to her jaw and neck, of Steve, Steve, Steve…

As she came up for air and Steve continued to litter kisses down her neck and chest, Evaline's eyes partially opened to spy the door that was still hanging halfway off its hinges, exposing them to the hallway and anybody who happened to walk by.

"Steve," Evaline said, earning some sort of confirmation noise as Steve's lips remained on her skin. She sighed, saying, "Steve, some idiot broke my door, and you know that Natasha or Sam is going to walk by in the middle of the night to get some water or something."

His lips paused, before he sighed and lowered his head to her chest, kissing her collarbone once before pulling slightly away. "I'm the idiot that broke your door. I kind of forgot my own strength, and you were screaming, and I just…"

"Hey," Evaline said, reaching down to lift up his chin in the palms of her hands. Even in the light, his pupils were fully dilated; Evaline was sure hers looked similar, and she was intent on making sure they stayed that way.

She leant down to kiss him fully, his hands sliding underneath her hips and to the backs of her thighs as she murmured against his mouth, "I'm just saying that we should probably move this elsewhere. Preferably to where there is a door that we can close and have a little privacy."

Since he seemed a little stunned by her statement, Evaline stood first, sliding out of the covers to reveal she wasn't even wearing a real pair of pants. As his eyes became fully dilated and his expression became a little slack-jawed, confidence and desire rose in her like never before. She walked backwards, slowly, on her tiptoes to the door, Steve watching her in wonder as she taunted him by gesturing to her waist and legs as she said, "I already did some of the work for you, the least you could do is help me out with the rest."

She was already across the hallway, having forgotten about the other denizens of the Tower as she stood in the open area with her bare legs, her hand on Steve's bedroom doorknob. As she started to turn it, finally it evoked a response out of the super soldier as he showed off his impressive speed and leapt up from her bed, crossed the room and the hallway in a few strides, and wrapped one arm tightly around Evaline's waist as he used the other to push open the door she had already cracked in an attempt to preserve it from the same fate hers had befallen.

As Steve slammed the door shut behind them and pulled them both to the bed, crashing his lips down onto hers, Evaline was simply amazed that neither the door nor the bed broke that night.


	21. Chapter 21

When Evaline awoke in the morning, she was alone in bed, and she had to bite back an insane laugh as she realized Steve had taken her clothes and folded them neatly before placing them on the chair to his desk. Considering it was just a t-shirt and the boy shorts she had been wearing the night before, Evaline dug into Steve's closet to grab a pair of sweatpants that were far too large for her before slipping them on, not trusting that if she walked into the hallway without pants that she would do so unperturbed by the other inhabitants of the Tower.

Before she exited Steve's room, she carefully took stock of the empty hallway before shooting across to her room, the door of which was still broken off at the hinges. She eyed it carefully, thinking about how she could go about fixing it, when she felt another pair of eyes on her and she quickly looked up.

Natasha was in the hallway, carefully observing Evaline's disheveled hair, her bee-stung lips, the hickeys on her neck and bare chest, and the fact that she was wearing a pair of Steve's pants. Evaline felt like she was going to collapse from the embarrassment, especially as Natasha winked at her and said, "I see your night got immensely better after I last saw you."

"Shut up!" Evaline shouted, but a grin crossed her face as soon as she escaped into her bathroom and shut the door behind her, quickly cranking the shower's heat up all the way. Another memory stirred, of Steve joining her in the shower one morning in an attempt to be seductive, only to go clambering back out and crashing against the wall when he felt the fiery rain of water that came from Evaline's shower head.

Eyeing the small but discernible dent he had left in the wall, Evaline's smile continued all the way throughout her shower and well after, through slathering make-up on all the marks that Steve had left behind, through marveling at the memory of each place he had touched her, through getting dressed and feeling surprised at how raw and fresh her skin felt.

Eventually, she made her way out to the kitchen, surprised to see that only her boyfriend was present despite the relatively late hour. Steve stood behind the stove, three large bowls of pancake mix spread out before him and various sizes of bowls full of toppings spread out around the island as well. He was wearing a quarter-sleeve jacket with the Avengers emblem over the heart, no doubt because the collar was popped and covered most of his neck where Evaline knew he had marks that matched her own. The jacket had a small stain from the pancake mix over his lower abdomen, but either he didn't notice or didn't care as he prepared the buffet for his team.

However, the jacket still couldn't cover up the purpling underneath his eyes and around his nose from where Evaline had hit him the night before. She instantly covered her mouth with both of her hands as she spotted it, but he simply laughed at her expression and said, "With my healing, it'll be gone in a few days. Don't worry."

He put down the pan he had been using to flip pancakes in and circled around the island, wiping his flour-covered hands partially on his thighs and leaving behind white streaks on the dark sweatpants. Evaline remained where she stood, lowering her hands from her mouth as she said, "But, Steve, that's got to hurt. I can't believe…"

"Hey." He came up to her, placing his hands on her lower back and leaning down so he could kiss her and murmur against her lips, "It's okay. You more than made up for it last night."

Evaline could feel the blush rise in her cheeks, her body warming from head to toe with both embarrassment and pleasure as Steve kissed her again. He tasted like chocolate and strawberries, no doubt proof that he had been sampling the toppings for their pancake buffet, but Evaline also noticed that he still faintly tasted like her.

"Is nowhere safe from this nonsense?!" Sam belabored from behind them, his words causing them to separate as he earned a grin from Steve at his obvious discomfort. Evaline was still too busy trying to hide her blush as she shuffled to the kitchen to flip the pancake Steve had left on the stovetop; she distantly heard Sam greet Natasha and Wanda as they walked in as well.

While Natasha simply grabbed her cup of coffee and the newspaper before escaping into the nook, Wanda moved behind Evaline to help prepare putting out the toppings. As she slipped behind her, Wanda patted Evaline on the butt and whispered to her, "You've got a Captain-sized flour handprint on your left butt cheek, Ev. And I'm assuming one underneath your pants, as well."

Evaline's whole face flared up again as Wanda barked out her fairy-pitched laugh and escaped to the nook to greet Vision, who had just transported through the wall beside Natasha. As she vainly tried to wipe away the handprint Steve had left behind, Evaline moved aside so Steve could take over the pancake flipping duties again since Evaline knew, even from her past life, that she burned pancakes every time without fail. Instead, she focused on setting out the toppings for her teammates.

As she took a seat at the nook, she began cutting apart her pancakes as she casually asked, "So, what's the game plan for today?"

His mouth still partially full with the massive bite of pancakes he had just shoveled into his mouth, Steve mumbled in response, "Natasha, Sam, and I have some lessons to give at S.H.I.E.L.D today, if you wanted to come with us."

Although her initial reaction was to turn down Steve's offer, as she had no wish to listen to her friends lecturing to new recruits, Evaline suddenly realized that an opportunity had appeared right in front of her as she thought back to the memory she had relived the night before. If she went to S.H.I.E.L.D, she might be able to split apart from them and do a little more investigation at the headquarters in regards to the mysterious suitcase she remembered finding.

Her mind's gears turning at full speed, she realized belatedly that everyone was still looking at her expectantly for an answer. To draw attention off of herself, Evaline shoved a bite of pancake into her mouth before quipping, "Who the hell thought it'd be a good idea to let Sam lecture?"

Not a full second after her remark, she felt a chocolate chip hit her on the cheek as she gaped at Sam, who was playfully glaring at her from across the kitchen, where he stood at the island by the array of toppings.

"I happen to be the only one of you who was trained by our actual military - properly," he was quick to add when Steve went to argue.

"Although Steve and I's lectures may be a bit more interesting than Wilson's," Natasha said, earning a petulant look from Sam, "I still think they'd bore you to tears, Eva."

Evaline shrugged, trying to act nonchalant as she said, "I'd like to just explore a little bit and see how S.H.I.E.L.D works, if I can. You all don't need to babysit me."

Throwing Natasha a quick look, as if to confirm it was okay, Steve watched her nod in agreement as he said, "Okay. But we'll all only be a phone call away if you need anything, and…"

"It'll be okay, Stevie," Evaline said, giving him a grin as she reached out and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. She ground her teeth as she only half-lied by saying, "I just want to take a look around."

Steve gave her such a wholesome grin that it slightly broke her heart, especially since Evaline had other intentions for the day. She tried to bury the guilt as she focused instead on her pancakes and enjoying the breakfast with her team, before heading out to the launchpad with Sam, Natasha, and Steve.

On the Quinjet, the length of the trip between Stark Tower and the isolated Avengers compound in upstate New York was only an hour, so Evaline barely had time to take off her seatbelt and get out of her jump seat before Sam was suggesting she buckle in again. They landed on the top of the compound before all walking together inside, earning a few stares, easily recognizable even without their uniforms and accoutrements.

Leading their group into the heart of the activity in the main lobby, Sam finally turned toward them, saying, "I'm headed to Sector 4. Where are y'all headed?"

"Sector 8," Steve said, directing his body toward what Evaline could only assume was that same sector. "Nat, you're in 5, right?"

"Correct, Cap," Natasha responded, blowing a bubble in her gum before it popped as she turned to Evaline. "You good here, Kaeser? Need me to find some rookie agent to show you around?"

Evaline gave her what she hoped was a simple smile, and didn't show any of the nerves she felt due to the plan she had hatched. "Nope. I think I can find my way around pretty easily. I'll ask for help if I need it."

"Let us know if you need anything," Steve said, reaching out to gently squeeze her hand. Evaline forced herself to meet his eyes and give him a reassuring smile, knowing if she looked away like she truly wanted to, he would read right through her and know something was wrong.

When Steve let go of her hand, they all turned and went their separate ways, leaving Evaline alone in the middle of the lobby as she took her time to get acquainted to the space, looking for spots that were recognizable or that she figured would be hiding the suitcase.

She was so invested in her search, it took her a while to hear her name being called out from somewhere nearby. Considering everyone she knew well enough to be shouting her name like that had just disappeared into their respective lecture halls, she turned curiously and searched for a familiar face, her eyes finally landing on Marley, who was grinning widely and power-walking toward her.

Relaxing, Evaline gave her the first genuine smile since she had arrived at the compound, saying, "Hi, Marley."

"Hi, Evaline!" Marley said brightly, all but bouncing up to her. "What brings you around to this part of town?"

"Sam, Steve, and Natasha all had lectures to give today, and I had nothing else better to do, so I thought I'd ride along," Evaline said, giving her another smile. "I've only really been to the residential part of the compound, and the healing bay, of course, so I thought I'd try to get acquainted with the more… business side of things."

Marley lit right up at this statement, saying, "Well, I should give you the unofficial tour, then!"

Quickly, Evaline's mind connected that if Marley took her around, it would provide Evaline with an alibi in case anyone questioned why she was wondering around the campus aimlessly while providing her with an actual reason to hide her real purpose in trying to find the case.

She tried to emulate Marley's brightness as she replied, "That would be great!"

Grinning back at her, Marley dove headfirst into the S.H.I.E.L.D history that Evaline was sure all younger agents had been hand-fed since they first started, saying, "S.H.I.E.L.D first fractioned off from the SSR, or the Strategic Scientific Reserve, shortly after WWII finished. The separation was suggested by SSR member Howard Stark, and supported by the likes of Peggy Carter…"

Although Evaline was physically following along with Marley as she walked through the lobby and pointed to different portraits and whatnot on the walls of past heroes and founders, her mind was somewhere else entirely as she finally captured an image within her own memory bank: an evidence warehouse, hidden somewhere deep within the complex. But for all the doors and halls that Marley showed her, none looked like they could house the warehouse in its entirety.

Now not even aware of her physical surroundings, Evaline bumped right into Marley, who had stopped walking and talking. Evaline stumbled back from Marley, looking at her in a moment of dazed confusion as she asked, "Marley? Everything okay?"

"I… I was about to ask you the same thing," Marley said carefully, wringing her hands as she looked back up at Evaline, her eyes full of concern. "You've got some new dark bags under your eyes and just look otherwise distracted which isn't… isn't like you. Is there something I can help you with? Even if it's just a person to talk to?"

Although her first instinct was to turn down the younger agent's offer, Evaline quickly saw the benefits of talking to her arise. While she of course trusted her team, she also knew that if she brought up her concerns about the nightmare, the memory, and the mysterious suitcase, that they would probably just take over instead of allowing her to figure it all out on her own. Also, she felt like it may lead to more questions about why she was so insistent the suitcase was connected to Luke's disappearance, and she wasn't prepared to lie to any of them to keep that part of the situation covered up.

So, Evaline surprised both herself and Marley as she said, "Having someone to talk to would be nice."

"Okay," Marley said, looking a little surprised that Evaline had actually agreed, before the look of surprise was compounded by a ringing noise. Allowing a look of confusion to cross over her face, Marley lowered her gaze to her watch, which shot up a holographic warning that she was due for a lecture on the opposite side of campus in five minutes. "Crap. I've got to get to class. Walk and talk?"

Nodding simply in response, Evaline followed Marley as they immediately began taking a series of turns that made Evaline felt like she was in a maze. As they did so, Marley matched her pace, walking beside her as she asked gently, but probingly, "So, what's up?"

Evaline sighed, starting with, "You know I'm really trusting you here, right? That everything I'm about to tell you can only be talked about between us two?"

Marley's eyes went a little wide, once again so wildly different from the over-confident and severely independent doppelgänger from Evaline's alternate reality that it made her heart constrict in her chest at the differences. Still, there was a tone of drive in her voice as she said, "Yes."

Taking a deep breath before she began, Evaline eventually began telling Marley a slightly watered down version of her entire story: the fight in Chicago and her exposure to the Mystery Man, waking up at the compound, finding out that her reality wasn't real afterall, getting re-acclimiated to their world and her own identity, capturing and questioning Nitro, the trip to the warehouse in Austria and the memory of being there before, losing Luke and questioning their connection, and trying to find her place with Steve and the Avengers.

She left out that Marley and Luke had played such big roles in her alternate universe, as she didn't want to freak the poor girl out. Already, it looked like Marley's eyes were going to roll out of her head, or her jaw was going to unhinge due to surprise. She also left out that apparently some sort of mysterious substance had been used on her during the fight in Chicago that was still having repercussions today, because she figured that would only instigate many more questions than answers.

"That sounds like… a lot to go through," Marley finally said, carefully, before she eyed Evaline with an intelligence and understanding beyond her years, beyond the youthful persona she normally adopted. "I hope you don't mind me saying, but it seems like there's something else missing from that story."

Evaline rankled, asking, "Like what?"

"Like the fact that when I saw you before you went to Austria, back to that warehouse, you were… lighter. You seem like now, you're carrying some weight on your shoulders you don't want anyone else to bear," Marley said sagely, her eyes sparkling inquisitively. "What are you hiding?"

Biting her lip, Evaline shook her head as she found herself breaking underneath Marley's familiar stare. "You can't say anything to anybody."

Reaching out, Marley gripped her arm and met her eyes wholly as she insisted, "Trust me."

Something in Evaline flipped as she all but vomited out her confession that she had hidden the note from the Mystery Man, that she felt she was being almost coerced by him and that she felt by her hiding the note, she was betraying her team. Marley's eyes widened a little bit, but there was also a slight expression of understanding in her face that made Evaline keep talking, telling her about finding the note and the threat the Mystery Man had made against Luke if she told anyone.

Marley's eyes went full-on wide when she said that, as she asked, "Why are you telling me, then?"

"Because you worked more closely with Luke," Evaline said, the pragmatic agent side of her innately thinking of the reason before she even realized she knew the answer. "Because you knew him better than my team, better than even me, probably. And maybe you can get better answers to help me figure it out."

Peaking an eyebrow, Marley asked, "Are you sure you want me helping, and not your team?"

"In this instance, I think you'll be more helpful than them, and I… I really do trust you," Evaline said, looking at the indecision in Marley's face as she sighed. "If you don't want to help me, if you feel like this is going against the S.H.I.E.L.D code of conduct or whatever, I'll totally understand, but…"

"No, no," Marley said quickly, shaking her head so the French braid her hair was tied up in slapped both shoulders on the circle around. She relaxed a little as she said, "Of course I'll help you figure out what happened to Luke."

"Thanks, Marley," Evaline said, throwing her a genuine smile. "I really appreciate having someone else outside of my team to talk to, someone who doesn't baby me and is willing to work alongside me instead of taking control of the situation. Sometimes, I just need someone to listen to me."

"I'll always be willing to listen." Marley's was smile gentle and soft as she looked so much more like the Marley Evaline had known, before her eyes darted back down to her watch as she said, "I really have to go right now, but I promise I will be free to listen again after class if you need it. Are you able to find your way back to the lobby?"

Laughing easily, Evaline said, "Go, go. I'm fine."

Marley grinned one more time before turning on her heel and racing away to some classroom, leaving Evaline alone in the deserted hallway. She was about to turn back and come the way she had come, but instead, her eye snagged on a nondescript that appeared to be all on its own in the middle of the corridor. Although to anyone who didn't know better, the room looked like it may house a maintenance pantry, the old Evaline perked up inside of her and recognized it for what it truly was: the entrance to the evidence warehouse.

She used her badge to slide along the doorjamb, which read it as if it were a credit card, before the door opened to allow her access inside. Craning her neck, she tried to take in her surroundings, amazed by the collection of various pieces of technology and other objects hanging off of shelves that reached to the top of the thirty foot high ceilings. Looking around, Evaline was a little dejected to note that there seemed to be no ladders or anything else of the sort that would help her reach to the highest shelves, where she bet the case was.

A voice called out, "Can I help you?"

Evaline turned quickly to see a S.H.I.E.L.D agent looking at her curiously, his hand lightly resting over the Stunner at his hip. His look of confusion cleared to one of surprise as he recognized Evaline, quickly stammering, "A-Agent Kaeser. I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't…"

"It's okay," Evaline said quickly, giving what she hoped was a placating smile. "Sorry, it's just been a while since I've been down here and I'm a little… lost. Could you help me find something?"

"Of course," the agent said excitedly, grabbing a palm pad from his other hip as he pulled up a holographic screen and brought up a catalog of sorts. "Do you have an item number?"

She bit her lip, pretending to be embarrassed and flustered as she said, "No, I… I had one, Fury gave it to me, but I lost it, and he just sent me here to make sure it was still here. I don't know if you heard about my accident, but my mind still isn't back to one hundred percent, and Fury has been giving me these small tasks to test me, so if I fail, I may never get the opportunity to be a full agent again."

A look of sympathy crossed over the agent's face before he stepped closer to her, saying, "It's okay, Agent Kaeser. I can help you, if you can tell me what it is you're looking for. Do you know any details about the object?"

"Yes," Evaline said, brightening as she saw a faded red blush cross over the agent's cheeks in the light of the holograph. "It was a suitcase that we found at a HYDRA warehouse clean-out, from a forest in Linz, Austria, about a year or two ago. It was metallic and had some sort of old-fashioned digital lock on the side."

"Okay," the agent said, his fingers deftly moving across the screen suspended in front of him. He began almost talking to himself as he explained to Evaline, "If I cross over recovered items around that period in that location with the list of your missions and those dates, then I should be able to…"

Even from the other side of the screen, Evaline saw something highlight up in green as the agent's palm pad gave a satisfactory _ding_ to indicate that the item had been found. The agent looked up toward the ceiling, toward some indiscriminate shelf, as he frowned and said, "I'm sorry, Agent Kaeser. It seems like this object is in an area that is only allowed to a certain level of clearance, which you don't have… anymore."

Evaline winced, genuinely. She could see the guilt crossing over the agent's face before she quickly inputted, "Well, if you came with me, would that work? I simply just need to put eyes on the object, I don't need to touch it or look at anything else around it, I swear."

The agent looked like he was going to deny her that request, but Evaline's begging expression seemed to tug one of his heartstrings as he finally sighed and said, "Fine. But if anybody asks, you snuck in."

Giving him what she hoped was a grateful smile, Evaline read right through the clear background of the holograph as a location popped up that she committed easily to memory: Sector 11, Shelf 42, Row 3, Slot C. The agent nodded to himself once before heading into the depths of the warehouse, taking such quick turns that Evaline had a difficult time tracking their movements. They moved silently, as if it were a stealth mission, and Evaline felt her anxiety rising with every slightly muted step.

The agent finally broke the silence what felt like ages later, saying, "We're almost there."

Evaline was just about to respond, when suddenly they heard the door to the warehouse suction open, and the agent threw her a panicked look. Her mouth moved before her head as she said, "You go figure out what they need. I'll stay right here, I promise I won't touch anything."

Although he looked like he was going to just tell Evaline to come with him, consequences of her being caught this deep in the warehouse be damned, they then heard Tony's voice call out, "Agent Dearborn? Where are you?"

"Coming, Mr. Stark!" the agent shouted back, his face having gone pale as Evaline was sure hers had. Having some random S.H.I.E.L.D. agent intruding was one thing, but having Tony come in when he knew Evaline had no real business being there was something different.

Giving the agent a gentle shove, Evaline whispered, "Go. I'll wait here."

Hesitating only a moment longer, the agent finally stumbled away to where Tony was presumably waiting for him. Evaline waited a solid minute before she turned back to the shelf they had stopped by, repeating the location of the item over and over in her head.

 _Sector 11, Shelf 42, Row 3, Slot C._

The sector, she had realized, was spray-painted on the ground; the shelf number was located on the side of the actual shelving unit; each row had a plastic label of the number it claimed; and the slot letters were spray-painted on the actual slots themselves. She stumbled around a little bit before finally finding the shelf, which was the hardest part; the rows themselves were numbered from top to bottom, from 1 to 32.

Which meant the row she needed, naturally, was toward the top.

"Of course," she muttered to no one else but herself as she craned up her neck to visualize where she would have to go: about five feet from the top of the ceiling. The metallic shelving units had little holes that were perfect for climbing, and Evaline stretched out all her limbs before doing just that, using the indents as footholds and grips as she slowly scaled the shelf.

Reminding herself not to look down, and focusing only on her breathing and moving her hands and feet, she was about halfway up before she heard someone shout from behind her, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Shit!" Evaline yelped, her grip on the shelf slipping a little bit before she scrambled and grabbed back on. Shooting a look over her shoulder, she saw Tony glaring up at her, and she groaned, saying, "Tony, what the hell! You almost made me drop!"

"It's not my fault you thought you somehow got Peter's abilities and can scale shelving units like this," Tony growled out, his expression furious. "I repeat: what the hell are you doing, Kaeser? Get down from there."

She knew there was no point on scaling up the rest of the way, as she was sure Tony was wearing a portable suit and would just fly up to take her down. As she scaled down the side of the shelf, she debated for a few moments about how she could lie to Tony to get out of this situation, but ultimately decided against it, recognizing she had been too far caught to come up with a good enough lie.

As she jumped the last meter or so to land on her feet in front of Tony, she looked up at his expression, which was a solid mixture of disappointment, anger, and surprise. He had crossed his arms over his chest as he asked, "So?"

"I was trying to find something I saw in a dream - or, a memory, rather," Evaline said, shaking her head as the vernacular got messed up in her mind. "I thought if I found it, that it might help lead me to Luke, or give me a clue. It just seemed… connected, somehow."

Tony's expression softened, morphing from the overprotective older brother to the sympathetic one. "Ev…"

"I know," she quickly cut in, putting out her hands as if to physically stop him from arguing against her. "I know, I know. I don't even want to open it or look at what's inside if you won't let me, I just want to see the actual case and see if it triggers anything. I owe it to Luke, to myself, to figure out what happened to him and why this case seems to be important to everything that's happened."

His expression remained stoic for a few more slow heartbeats before he finally sighed and said, "Fine."

Evaline clasped her hands together in a show of appreciation, before Tony clicked on his Iron Man suit she knew he had been hiding, letting it cover his entire body. Using the boosters beneath his feet to get up into the air, Tony raised himself to face the shelf where the catalog insisted the suitcase was, holding out one of his arms in front of him as the holograph shone as his guiding light.

She saw him reach forward and rummage around the shelf, before she heard a distant muttering of, "What the hell?"

"What is it?" she called up to him, craning her neck as far back as she could to keep him in her eyeline.

"There's nothing here," Tony said in confusion, looking down at the holographic image in his palm before conferring with the empty shelf in front of him again. He purposefully made his voice louder so Evaline could hear him as he said, "But there should be something here. I don't understand."

"Did you look around the same area, see if maybe it's just one spot over or something?" Evaline called up.

"Did I…" Even from twenty-five feet below, Evaline caught Tony's disbelieving look that she really thought he had been so naive as to not check. "Of course I looked at the other spots."

"Well, I don't know, Tony!" she hissed him as he slowly flew back down to her, landing on his metallic boots a few feet away from her. He gave her a look of surprise at her outburst, as she sighed and pulled a hand through her hair. "Look, I'm sorry, I'm just…"

Suddenly, a ringing noise echoed throughout the warehouse, putting Evaline on high alert before Tony pulled up his holographic pad from one of the arms on his suit. A notification popped up in thin air, boasting the message _Incoming Call from The One-Eyed Wonder._

"Fury," Tony said by way of explanation, before swiping up on the screen and accepting the call as Fury's face bounced up. His confusion and concern from just a few moments before disappeared as he said, "Nicholas, Nicholas, to what do I owe - "

"Stop messing around, Stark," Fury growled, his perpetual scowl on. "You want to tell me why you're poking around the evidence warehouse?"

Looking annoyed and a little disappointed, Tony asked, "What the hell? How did you pick up on my signature but not Kaeser's?"

"Kaeser's there, too?" Fury asked, only an atom of surprise hinted in his tone. "What are you two up to in there?"

Tony turned toward Evaline, giving her an expectant look as he gestured to the screen. She gave him a beseeching look, but he simply shook his head in response, cuing her to fess up to Fury.

Sighing, she faced his holographic form, saying, "Sir, I was looking for a suitcase that I had a memory of recovering from that old H.Y.D.R.A. warehouse in Austria, where we went to search for Luke. I thought that maybe the memory had been triggered for a reason, and if I found out what was inside that package that I could maybe find a clue to where Luke had been taken, or why. But since the package is missing, I guess…"

"Wait," Fury said sharply, cutting her off so abruptly that she startled a little bit. He had stepped closer to the camera, his entire face taking up his portion of their screen, his one good eye unblinking as he demanded, "What do you mean it's _missing_?"

"Just that," Evaline said, giving a surprised look to Tony, who shrugged in confusion at Fury's strong response to the news that the suitcase wasn't where it was supposed to be. "There's literally nothing in its spot, not the case and not whatever was in it."

"Yeah," Tony said, straightening up in his suit. "What _was_ inside the case, Fury? Because Kaeser here seems to think it'll have answers to what happened to that Luke kid, or maybe what happened to her, and…"

Fury cut him off, stating almost distantly, "The Serum was inside that suitcase."

Tony simply peaked an eyebrow and said, "Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all. What serum are we talking about? A nice anti-aging lotion? One that makes our skin a little more tan? Or a nice little moisturizer?"

"No," Fury said, his scowl deepening before he turned and conferred with someone behind him who was out of Evaline and Tony's line of sight. Finally, Fury turned back to them, sighing as he said, "I'm sending the chemical make-up of this serum to Vision and Banner to run against the one we found in Evaline's blood."

Evaline tensed while Tony lost all semblance of playing. "Wait, what?"

Seeming to ignore them both, a second screen bounced up into the corner of Tony's holograph, presenting Bruce's face instead. His eyebrows were furrowed in both confusion and curiosity as he said, "Eva? Tony? What's going on?"

Before either of them could answer his question - or admit that they themselves were also relatively confused - Fury barked, "Banner. I'm sending you two chemical formulas right now for what I'm hoping are different substances. However, I want you to cross-check the sequences and let me know if _anything_ rings up to be similar."

Bruce's entire face lit up as he obviously turned to the screen, Evaline distantly hearing soft beeps and the clicking of a keyboard for a few moments before Bruce turned back to the screen. He shook his head, his glasses sliding down to the end of his nose, before he said, "I'm running it now, but it doesn't work that fast, sir. DNA sequencing is a complex process, and - "

He was cut off by an insistent beeping noise that startled him as his eyes drew away to look at whatever was beeping. Almost lazily, Fury asked, "They're an exact match, aren't they?"

"Yes," Bruce said, looking surprised and a little angry as his eyes flickered back to wherever Fury was on his screen. Evaline's stomach dropped as Tony quickly and protectively put a hand around her shoulders, sharing a glare with Bruce they both directed at Fury. The biologist demanded, "Director, what is this? Why did you keep this from us? We could've had answers for Evaline months ago."

"The chemical formula for this serum has been a well-protected secret because it was deemed too dangerous to let too many people know about its existence," Fury said, shaking his head as if realizing now that he should have made the connection sooner. "We simply never thought that it would be what was used on Evaline's mind."

Evaline finally found her voice again, although it was hoarse as she asked, "Why? What is this serum, Fury?"

Tense silence filled the air, both physical and technological, between the four of them as Fury looked thoughtful, as if considering whether to pull rank and keep it a secret, or finally tell them the truth.

It seemed he finally decided on the latter as he said simply, "It's the same serum that was used on Bucky Barnes to wipe his mind and make him compliant as the Winter Soldier."


	22. Chapter 22

Evaline felt her heart stop in her chest, every atom in her body coming to a halt as she barely registered Tony ask from behind her quietly, "What?"

"Banner," Fury said, ignoring Tony's question as his eyes moved presumably to where Bruce's face appeared on his own screen, "I'm sending the specs of this to Shuri and Strange. I want you all to go to Wakanda; they might have better technology to help study this and solve it."

"Study what?" Tony asked angrily, taking a half step in front of a still frozen Evaline as he jutted his chin out toward the screen. "Study Evaline, you mean?"

"Study this serum and its effect on her, in hopes we can find a cure or at least some semblance of an answer," Fury shot back quickly, tightly, his eyes bouncing to Evaline only once before he refocused. "Banner, I want you to let Maximoff and Vision know where you all will be headed. Stark, Kaeser, I'll leave it up to you two to let Rogers, Wilson, and Romanoff know. Hill will be in touch once she contacts Wakanda."

Fury's face blinked off the screen without so much as a goodbye, Bruce's face still in the corner as he awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "Eva, I'm so - "

"We'll see you back at the Tower," Tony said quickly, swiping up on Bruce's face to exit him out, knowing that the last thing Evaline wanted to hear was apologies from someone who was not responsible for what had occurred to her. Still, Tony turned toward her, his eyes wide but his voice slow as he said, "Eva, we…"

His caution with her broke something inside her, as she felt the tears begin to leak down her cheeks. Tony's eyes went even wider before he grabbed her up in a tight hug and tucked her head into his chest. She shut her eyes tight, feeling her cheek press up against the metallic orb protecting his heart, rumbling as he spoke. "We'll figure it out. We'll get Rogers and the gang back in here and…"

"Please, can we just let him think nothing's wrong with me for another hour or so?" Evaline asked, her voice shaking as she quickly pulled away from Tony, meeting his surprised and slightly heartbroken eyes. She threw him a begging look, saying, "He's been through so much, and to put this on top of him, on top of _any_ of them…"

"First off, there is nothing wrong with you," Tony insisted in a gentle tone she had heard him use so rarely before. "And second off, we are a team, a family. We share each others' burdens and secrets and weights, and we help solve each others' problems - without question, without regret. Do you hear me?"

She rubbed her eyes futilely, tears still leaking out from the corners as she said, "I do. But please, can we just wait until after the lectures are done? Nothing will change in that short period of time, and I just… I need a moment to process this myself, without Steve and Sam and Nat all in planning mode and asking questions that I don't and won't know the answer to."

Evaline felt acid build up in her stomach as she saw what was clearly pity fill Tony's expression as he replied, "Of course."

She whispered a thank you before turning away and sliding into one of the nearby chairs, trying to settle her mind as she thought of all the implications of having the Winter Soldier serum in her blood. Could it be cured? Could she be controlled like Bucky had been? As she flashed back to the time Steve had found her in the wood with Luke's blood on her hands, she wondered if she already had been controlled without her consent.

Shaking her head, she made a move to distract herself from the dark places her mind was going. She finally came up with a game plan, opening up a group message to Sam, Natasha, and Steve and quickly texting: _Whenever you all are done with your lectures, meet up with me in the command center on the fifth floor._

While they waited for the other three to arrive, Tony and Evaline sat in relative silence, Tony pretending to be busy with something on his phone although Evaline could feel his concerned gaze weighing on her every few minutes. She kept her eyes resolutely away from him, sure that if their gazes met that he would start hammering her with more questions as it was very difficult for Tony to keep quiet in tense moments like the present.

Thirty minutes later, Evaline was surprised when the door opened and she saw her three teammates had somehow showed up at the same time. It seemed they were surprised, too, especially when they saw Tony standing beside Evaline, Steve even going as far to greet him by commenting, "Tony. I thought you were stuck in meetings at Stark Tower all day."

"Well, that was a lie I told to get out of lecturing to these impressionable agents, which I think is the best decision for all those involved," Tony intoned, earning a slightly scolding look from Evaline as he sobered up again. "I'm here, now, though, because we've made some… headway in figuring out what the serum in Evaline's blood is."

Sam's usual swagger quickly morphed into his soldier mode, as Steve stared at Ton and Evaline in surprise; Natasha's expression changed only infinitesimally as her eyebrows furrowed a hair breadth closer. However, she was the one to ask, "What are you guys talking about?"

Although the words had been directed to Tony, as he was the one who had revealed the news, Tony turned toward Evaline and gave her an expectant look, even going so far as to gesture in front of him as if she should physically take over his spot in order to properly tell the tale.

Sighing, she took a half-step forward, meeting the expectant and curious eyes of her friends as she told them, "I have to admit, my request to come with you all today had an ulterior motive, and I lied to some of you about my nightmare last night as well - or, at least, I didn't tell you the whole truth. I had a nightmare that was really a memory of when we first found the abandoned house in Austria and cleared it out. I found this mysterious suitcase that Fury was immensely secretive about, even for him, but I handed It off and forgot about it.

"Until," she amended, seeing the question beginning to perch at Sam's lips, "we had to go back to the warehouse. It felt… weird to me, like we were being set up for an ambush that never really came. The Mystery Man had never been that sloppy before, so he obviously wanted me at the warehouse to remember something - and I think he wanted me to remember that suitcase, and question what was inside. So, I tracked it down here - or at least, where it should have been; but the case is missing."

Sam could not stop himself from questioning, "Missing? Where do you think it went?"

"We think the Mystery Man took it. What was inside was a serum that exactly matched the one they found in my blood," Evaline said, sharing a quick look with Tony as he gave her an encouraging nod before she turned to Steve, meeting his curious and concerned gaze with a steel-strong look of her own. "It also matched the serum that made Bucky the Winter Soldier."

While Sam's expression filled with surprise, and Natasha's barely moved once more, Steve's emptied of any emotion as he obviously went into some small form of shock. Natasha, her voice eerily calm, asked, "So… what does that mean?"

"We assume it means I could be controlled like him," Evaline said, throwing a nervous look at Tony, who nodded at her encouragingly. "And we assume it means that the Mystery Man gave it to me intentionally, to use me in some respect. Although I'm not sure how much use I would be to him, considering most of Bucky's use derived from the training and whatnot they forced him through after giving him the serum, and I never went through that."

"But he didn't need you train you, because you have training from before, from S.H.I.E.L.D," Sam pointed out, his expression and voice dark as everyone in the room went thoughtfully quiet for a few moments.

Evaline shook her head, saying, "I don't think he counted on me having my weird amnesia, or whatever, and I think that's why he hasn't used all of this against me quite yet. But we have to assume that one day, eventually, he will."

An insistent beep interrupted Evaline's dark message, as Tony slipped his phone out of his pocket and read a message on the screen before telling the room, "Hill's cleared it with Wakanda. We're headed there to meet up with Shuri, mostly, but I bet it would help to see Barnes as well."

Her eyes involuntarily moving toward Steve at the mention of his childhood best friend, as well as to see his reaction to the hefty news they had shared, Evaline noticed Steve was surprisingly stoic. He stayed staunchly silent for most of the ride back to the Tower, while Evaline remained lost in her own thoughts and separated from the conversations that whirled around her: Sam, plotting out their flight to Wakanda, and Tony and Natasha were talking at length about how to figure out what informants they could squeeze to get more information about the serum and the danger it presented.

They landed quickly, the trip becoming so familiar to Evaline at this point that the half hour flew by like it was nothing. She bounced back to reality only when Natasha gave her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder and disappeared down the hallway toward their rooms with Sam trailing behind her.

Evaline followed them, already entering the hallway, when she turned to ask Steve to knock on her door whenever he was ready to go. Surprised to see she had somehow lost him in the journey from the Quinjet to their rooms, she quickly made her way back through the hallway, nearing the entrance leading back into the common room as she heard Tony's low voice rippling with anger and saying her name.

She heard Steve respond, "It's none of your business, Tony."

"It kind of is, when your mood is affecting the morale of this team and especially of your girlfriend," Tony said, his voice tight as Evaline peeked around the corner so as not to interrupt. She watched as Tony's face softened at Steve's lack of a response, unusual for Steve considering he was usually a regular sparring partner for Tony. The engineer reached out to rest a gentle a hand on his shoulder, his voice quiet as he said, "Rogers, come on. Talk to me."

"I've just got a lot on my mind," Steve said dismissively, brushing Tony's touch off and going to turn away, back to where Evaline was standing.

"And you think Evaline doesn't?" Tony asked loudly, shaking his head in disappointment at Steve's behavior as Evaline herself startled a little bit at. The provocation of her name was enough for Steve to turn around, and Evaline saw the fist that was tightening at his side. "Evaline is the one who just found out she had a super soldier serum used on her, against her consent. Evaline is the one who had to relive through all those nightmares just to remember her real life, and now has to live out this one. Evaline is the one who is being targeted by the Mystery Man, not you. So why are you so angry?"

"I'm angry," Steve said, his voice deadly and dangerously calm, "because you thought it'd be a great idea to hold all this information from me."

"Hold this - ?" Tony's face had gone into an expression of wild confusion, but then it cleared as he suddenly started laughing, instigating an almost innate straightening of the spine from Steve as Evaline sensed the tension between the two of them tightening. "We held that information from you for all of half an hour, in which nothing else could have been done - "

His voice low, almost to the point of a growl, Steve responded, "It wasn't your call."

Evaline sensed the tension between the two of them pulling taut, to the point that it was easy to assume that someone was about to be hit if either of them continued to argue with one another. So, to deter this from happening, Evaline quickly exited from the hallway, obviously surprising the two guys as they turned toward her.

She quickly said to Steve, "It was my call. I'm the one who asked Tony to wait. If you want to be mad at anybody, be mad at me."

The words deflated Steve, emptying him of his anger as he crossed the room in six wide strides, landing in front of Evaline as he frowned down at her. "Of course I'm not mad at you, Ev."

"Then why be mad at Tony for the same thing?" Evaline asked, peaking an eyebrow.

From behind Steve, Tony's voice perked up, saying, "I would like to know as well!"

"Tony," Evaline chastised, moving her gaze around Steve as she gestured at their friend to leave them alone. He did so, after an unnecessarily dramatic sigh, turning on his heel and exiting toward the elevator bay and presumably to his own floor of suites so he could prepare for their journey.

Not wishing to be interrupted by any of their other team members walking into the room, Evaline took Steve by the hand and guided him back to his room. She grabbed a duffle bag from the top shelf of his closet and threw it on the bed before taking a seat beside it as she demanded, "Pack, and talk."

He had started to pull clothes out of his closet and drawers, his back turned toward her as he asked, "Talk about what?"

"You know about what," Evaline said, frowning at him before she stretched out against the top of the bed, leaning back against her elbows. When he still didn't respond, instead focusing on his packing efforts, Evaline prodded him by saying, "Your attitude right now…"

Steve emitted a dark laugh, saying, "My 'attitude'."

"Yes, your attitude," Evaline said, rankling as he looked at her in surprise and she gave him a small glare in response. "I get that it's not… ideal that this serum is in my blood, or whatever, but I don't understand why you're being so angsty about it. Is it because Tony found out before you did, and I convinced him to not tell you right away, or… "

"It's not about that," Steve admitted, shaking his head as he shoved his stealth suit into his bag. She watched him carefully, patiently waiting for an explanation before he sighed and said, "I'm excited to go see Bucky, and for you to meet him - or, re-meet him, but I just wish it were under better circumstances."

She paused for just a moment, before she stepped toward him and rested a soft hand on his upper arm. Jokingly, she said, "Honestly, I'm not sure if our circumstances are ever really going to be better, per se. This may be the best we can get."

"That shouldn't be the case," Steve said with newfound vehemence, pulling his arm gently away from her touch. His eyes flashed into blue flames before he sighed, reaching out to touch her waist and pressing his forehead to hers as he said, "You deserve every happiness and joy in this world. Not… not this."

"Not what?" she asked, lifting her eyes to meet his underneath furrowed brows, her hands gently resting on his chest and over his heart. "Not being held by the man that I love, not being surrounded by a family willing to do anything for me? Happiness can be measured any number of ways, Steve, and my joy jar is plenty filled."

It was an old phrase that slipped out of her mouth, involuntarily more than anything. A "joy jar" was an old tradition in Evaline's family's household, that whenever one of the siblings was mean or yelled at another, they had to write one happy thing: a good memory with that person, a personality trait they liked, something.

Steve's face emptied to make place for the surprise he felt at hearing her so easily reference something from her past life, before a small but full smile crossed his face. "Joy jar. Maybe we need one of those in the Tower."

"I don't think it'd be a bad idea, necessarily," Evaline said with a grin of her own, giving him a peck on the lips before pulling away and headed to the door of his bedroom. "Are you done being all morbid, now?"

"Morbid, yes. Realistic, no," Steve said as he zipped shut his bag and earned an eye roll from Evaline that brought another smile onto his face. "Speaking of realistic, you need to get packing so we can head out."

"I know, I know, I'm going," Evaline said, waving a lazy hand at him before turning and exiting, heading toward her own to do as he had asked. After she had stuffed her own duffle bag full to the point of bursting, she slung it over her shoulder and made her way to the launchpad, heading back into the Quinjet and getting comfortable in her own jump seat before the other members of the team joined her.

She dozed for most of the flight, listening only distantly to the noises of her crew around her: Bruce, Vision, Wanda, and Tony talking at length about what supplies they would need to gather and how to set up communications with Strange and Christine; Natasha and Sam discussing coordinates and flight patterns far beyond her understanding; and Steve moving between both sets of conversations, acting as their de facto leader and her protector like he always did.

At some point, Wanda gently nudged her awake, welcoming her back to the world as she smiled gently at her and said, "I thought you'd like to see Wakanda when we fly in. I don't know if you remember it or not, but if you don't, it's something incredible to live through."

Although Evaline had some vague memories of the country, she had no recollection of traveling to it, even as she scrounged her memories while stepped forward to where Sam and Natasha were sitting, edging behind Natasha's seat. She thought, erroneously, that she would be able to see the city that was flashing through her mind in disconnected images, but all she saw still were forest lines and rivers despite the fact that the Quinjet was descending.

Steve stepped up behind her, resting both hands on the back of Natasha's chair and effectively barricading Evaline in as he lowered his lips to her ear and said, "Better keep your eyes wide open, or else you'll miss it."

"Miss what?" Evaline asked, her eyes focused with laser-like intensity out of the window as the Quinjet continued to lower itself until was nearly level with the tree line. Evaline was sure that Sam was just trying to move around a pocket of turbulent air, but instead, the Qujntet remained on a straight collision course for the forest ahead of them. As they neared the wall of foliage, Evaline gripped Steve's arm as she said, "Um, why are we headed right toward that cave that looks too small to fly through?"

"Because it's not a cave," Steve said with a reassuring smile, slipping his arm around her waist while she continued to hold onto his arm like it was the seatbelt that would save her from the collision she had no doubt was about to occur. Steve's laugh rumbled lowly in her ear as he said, "Just watch."

Evaline couldn't help but instinctively clench all of her bodily muscles, especially her eyes, tight as they crashed through the wall of foliage and through to clear air. She opened up one eye carefully, sure she would see the afterlife, but was surprised instead to see the Quinjet was still coasting along. At the sight of what laid out before them, she lurched forward almost involuntarily, gripping onto Steve's arm around her waist for a different reason now as she commented, "Holy sh- "

Amusement lacing every decibel of his voice, Steve chuckled and cut her off, saying, "Language."

The warning was for nothing; Evaline had truly lost her voice as she looked out at the metropolitan city stretching out before her, surrounded by plains and rivers and forest. The skyscrapers defied any reason that some hidden country should have the technology to build and hide them the way they did, and they contrasted starkly with the beautiful nature that surrounded it.

Sam deftly navigated around said skyscrapers before finding their target launchpad, settling the Quinjet as Evaline all but raced toward the back in eagerness to exit out and look at the new place they had settled in. As the ramp dropped, Evaline saw that a lone figure awaited them, one arm and both eyes glinting in the rays of the Wakandan sun that was beginning to lower in the sky. He stepped toward their group, meeting Steve first as he leapt ahead of all of them, wrapping his arms around the figure as he commented, "Bucky."

Evaline watched the two men embrace, her heart swelling with love for both of them and their relationship as she saw the genuine joy that crossed over both of their expressions as they took stock of each other, not seeing any new injuries or sign of age on the other. After he took a cursory glance of his best friend, Bucky Barnes' eyes shot around him and immediately locked on Evaline, his expression going blank and surprised for a moment before it was covered in another wild grin.

"Ev, you told me months ago you'd owe me a beer if I couldn't get this one drunk," Bucky said, gesturing to Steve, who had the most childish and embarrassed grin on his face that brought an immense amount of amusement to Evaline. Bucky shrugged, saying, "I did, and then you decided to take a little mental day, and I'm still waiting on that damn beer."

Evaline looked between them, her mouth agape. "Okay, out all of these memories I'm recovering, why in the hell is that not one of them?!"

"Because you were also quite drunk, and blacked out with him," Bucky said, still grinning wide, taking long steps toward her before he wrapped her up in a tight, warm, and familiar embrace. He said softly to her, "Welcome back, Ev. We've missed you."

"What, and I don't get a hug like that?" a sarcastic voice called out from behind her as she and Bucky turned as one unit to see Sam hauling some bag of equipment off of the jet before he threw it down on the launchpad and put out his arms. "Come here, Barnes."

Bucky playfully rolled his eyes as he commented, "You should be so lucky, Wilson."

"Hey!" Tony exclaimed as he clambered off the jet as well and saw the downed bag by Sam's feet. "What's that doing on the ground? That piece of equipment is more expensive than your life is, Wilson."

Sighing, Sam picked the bag back up and slung it over his shoulder again, commenting under his breath, "So under appreciated in this damn team. I should just quit. Honestly, I should just leave and then they would all recognize what I do for them, and…"

All of Sam's griping was cut off as he disappeared into the palace with the equipment bag still over his shoulder, Bruce, Tony, and Vision all following in succession after saying quick hellos to Bucky, and Wanda and Natasha doing the same as they hugged Bucky and disappeared into the Palace, leaving Bucky, Steve, and Evaline to round them all up in the end.

Their large group stepped onto an elevator just inside the door to the launchpad, Bucky typing in some complex code on a holographic keypad. The lift quickly, silently, and effortlessly moved down many floors, although Evaline was unsure how many since instead of numeric indicators, there were Wakandan symbols gracing the screen instead, flipping as they moved between the floors.

Finally, the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening to the lab as Evaline's jaw all but dropped to the floor as she took in the high ceilings, the windows opening up into the vibranium mines surrounding them, and the level of the technology that was scattered throughout the room. Although she didn't quite recognize any solitary piece, she did realize that most of it was probably functioning at a higher level than normal technology in their world.

Most of the members of her team had coalesced around a large, circular meeting table in the center, leaving Evaline alone to gaze around in wonder. Although Steve was standing beside her still, looking utterly unphased by it all, Bucky sidled up next to her and gave a disbelieving shake of his head, commenting, "I've been here for months and I've been in here so many times, but I still can't get used to it."

"Well, that probably also has something to do with the fact that you basically went to sleep in the 40's and woke up in the 21st century," Sam commented as he threw Bucky a smirk that the ex-soldier returned with a scowl. "Oh, come on, Buck. You make it too easy sometimes."

"Can you two delay the foreplay for later?" Tony commented, obviously irritated, from where he stood at the meeting table. "The adults are trying to speak."

As Evaline finally bothered to take stock of who all was in the room, Evaline realized three other figures stood with her team, turning as one unit to face her. The first thing Evaline noticed was how mismatched their apparel was. The woman on the right was dressed nearly head to toe in the brightest of reds, outlined in gold; the women on the left wore a white t-shirt with some sort of graphic on it and a simple pair of black jeans and Converse. The man, meanwhile, was dressed in a classy modernized version of traditional Wakandan garb, including a tunic and pressed loose pants in shades of black and purple.

As she moved closer, their faces finally matched up with names in Evaline's mind as she scrambled for what to do when faced with the King and Princess of Wakanda, and a member of their Royal Guard.

"King T'Challa," Evaline greeted him, bowing lightly as he quickly rushed forward and used both hands on her arms to raise her back up into a standing position.

He adopted a gracious and warm smile as he shook his head and said, "You may not remember all the favors you have done for me, my blood, and my people, Evaline, but I will never forget. You do not bow to me, nor anyone else here."

"Unless you really want to bow to me. It's not necessary, but it does boost my confidence a little bit," Shuri piped up from beside him, amusement glittering in her eyes.

While the guard that stood with them rolled her own eyes, T'Challa gave his sister a long-suffering smile and responded, "As if you need the help."

Foregoing any sense of formality, and ignoring her brother's quip, Shuri sprung forward, embracing Evaline almost as tightly as Bucky had. As she pulled away, she grinned up at Evaline wildly, commenting, "Thank Bast you're here! I was getting choked to death by all this bloody testosterone."

Natasha, who was lounging in one of the misleadingly uncomfortable looking chairs along the wall, gestured between herself and Wanda, who was part of the group circling around the meeting table. "And what are we, exactly?"

Rolling her eyes, Shuri looked particularly child-like as she said, "Obviously, I meant that to _all_ of you, but Evaline deserves a special welcome back considering everything she's been through."

Relaxing into her chair, Natasha didn't argue with that response, but Evaline didn't miss the affectionate half-smile on her face as she regarded Shuri who, despite her age, seamlessly mixed into their group. Evaline let her eyes circle around the room, noticing that Bruce, Tony, Wanda, and Vision were gathered around the table, a screen sprouting from the floor in the middle of it that showed Christine and Strange's faces.

"So glad you all could join us," Strange commented sardonically from his side of the screen, earning a small glare from Steve.

"We haven't even done anything yet, and we've barely started talking," Shuri said amicably, shooting Strange a look. "He's just mad because we're wasting precious meditation time."

The comment earned grins at Strange's expense from many in the room, but only soured the previous neurosurgeon's mood as he commented tightly, "You are slightly wasting my time, actually, so that's not a totally inaccurate comment to make. Can we get this started, or are we just going to continue to make idle small talk?"

"Don't mind him, he hasn't had his nap today," Christine said easily, continuing to grin even as Strange threw her a slightly betrayed look. She waved a hand, saying, "Hi, Eva and Steve and Bucky! When are you all coming to visit here?"

"Well, considering I'm still technically a wanted man in some parts, it might be a while," Bucky joked easily, earning a slightly surprised look from Evaline that he deftly side-stepped. "But as soon as I can, I'll come save you from that drone you call a boyfriend."

Strange commented relatively stoically, "You want to see if my magic works through a screen? I bet I could reach you through the technology and…"

Cutting across him, Shuri asked Tony innocently, "What were you saying about the adults talking?"

"She's right," T'Challa spoke up, shaking his head although amusement lit his eyes. "You all came here because you wanted answers, and you will receive none and achieve nothing if you continue to bicker like this."

"It's all a part of our respective processes," Tony joked lightly, although he threw warning looks to Bucky and Strange, who seemed to both be the biggest agitators of the group. He cracked his fingers, stretching out his arms in front of him and rolling his neck before he announced, "Now, let's get down to business."

Most of the team clustered around the table, while Evaline, T'Challa, Natasha, and Bucky took up positions slightly behind them. Shuri deftly moved her fingers across the screen in front of them, bringing up some sort of display she sent to Christine and Strange and gave them but a moment to digest before she started saying, "The serum seems to have attached itself to Evaline's neurons, and her blood cells, and seems to match the composition we found in Bucky's blood exactly. The treatment we had for Bucky was more to do with ridding him of the psychological component of the control, and we're still not entirely sure that worked. The serum is technically still in his blood, and his neurons have showed no real change either."

Christine was the first to speak up, asking, "Do you think it'd be worth apheresing her, see if we could filter out the serum some way, at least from her blood?"

"Apheresis only works if we have some way to filter it out, or treat it, and we don't have that yet," Shuri said, shaking her head as all gazes moved to her. "Maybe we could develop something, but that's not the answer for right now. Our biggest concern is not necessarily the serum, but the effects it could have on her neurological status. That's what we need to try to interrupt, change, or otherwise modify - the effect on her neurons."

Strange's languid voice spoke up, asking, "What do you suggest?"

"Mapping the brain would be a good start," Shuri said, the teenaged playfulness she had shown earlier completely gone at this point, presenting such a startling change that Evaline could feel herself gaping a little bit at this young girl lecturing biochemists, medical doctors, and bonafide geniuses about neurological chemistry.

As the small group of them began to use more and more medically-inclined words that were beginning to sound like they were speaking a different language entirely, the room began to spin for Evaline. People crowded closer and closer to the table in the center, where Shuri, Bruce, and Tony were sliding files across the holographic screens to each other and to share with Strange and Christine back in New York, Vision watching on quietly but sagely. As they moved forward, Evaline felt herself moving backwards, nearly stumbling at this point as she saw a figure at the table turn and spot her making a rapid exit back out of the door.

Her departure took her out to a balcony surrounding the entire exterior of the building, at the highest point in the city so Evaline was able to watch the setting sun over the tops of buildings. She kept her jacketed arms tightly around her waist, watching as shadows were casted on the skyscrapers nearby and the pastures, forest, and rivers in the distance, her focus on her own breathing.

When she finally was able to even out her own breathing, she leaned against the bannister for support, tensing again she heard someone walking up behind her, keeping their footsteps as quiet and soft as they could. She kept her eyes resolutely on the horizon although she felt Bucky sidle up next to her, the light of the sunset glinting off of his metallic arm even though it was covered to the forearm with the material of his shirt.

A few moments of quiet passed between them before Bucky said gently, "Penny for your thoughts."

Evaline hesitated at first to answer him, instead playing with a rogue string on the arm of her sweater as she tried to form her thoughts. However, Bucky was unlike most of her other teammates; he was used to waiting a long time to get answers that he wanted, and he made no sort of movement that depicted a waning patience.

"i was scared before, when it was just a matter of not recognizing this life or any of my memories, but now…" Evaline started, suddenly feeling her throat beginning to close up as she tried to clear it, surprised to feel tears beginning to slide slowly down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, keeping her gaze lowered in embarrassment as she finished, "I'm a bona fide weapon now, Bucks."

"You don't know that for sure," Bucky said gently, resting a friendly hand on her arm as she looked up at him, shaking her head.

"There is someone out there who used this serum on me, who presumably found words to control me with, and they can do so whenever they wish," she insisted. "Just because I didn't get super strength or the ability to heal really fast like you did, doesn't mean that I can't be used in some other way."

Frowning, Bucky said softly, hopefully, "They haven't used you yet, though."

"I know, and that's what terrifies me," Evaline said, shaking her head before she looked up at him with wide eyes, his own gaze slightly surprised at the admission. "What are they waiting for?"

He pressed his lips together tightly, recognition of the issue dawning on his expression before he looking out at the horizon. She searched his face for any answer, before he finally broke the silence again and admitted, "I don't know, Ev. But you want to hear what I do know, for sure?"

"What's that?" Evaline asked, exhausted as she turned to lean against the bannister.

Bucky very intentionally met her eyes, looking his actual age of a century old as he said, "I know that you've got a team, a family, in there, who is willing to do anything and everything to keep you safe and to figure out how to save you from the full fate that I fell to. And hey, even if you do - I didn't turn out so bad, right? Spare the missing arm."

"No," Evaline said gently, turning to him as she met his gaze square on. "I guess you didn't."

They both turned to look back at the stretching land, watching as the sun finally dipped fully beneath the horizon, both of them lost fully in their own thoughts: Bucky in his past, and Evaline in her future.

Both of them startled slightly as a gentle voice called out from behind them, "Ev? Buck?"

They both turned to see Steve standing in the doorway leading back into the War Room, watching them with a confused and slightly tense expression as his eyes flickered between them both. He remained standing in the doorway, giving them their space as he asked carefully, "Everything okay out here?"

"Yeah, just sharing embarrassing stories about you," Bucky cracked easily, the darkened expression he had worn when discussing the serum and his past as the Winter Soldier clearing easily to show the easy joy that Steve had told Evaline all about when preparing her for meeting Bucky.

He turned back to Evaline, a mischievous glint in his eye, as he said, "One time, when Steve and I were about thirteen, he had a crush on this girl named Wendy who lived one block over. In order to impress her, Steve decided that it would be a great idea to - "

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Steve said quickly, using his super soldier speed to step physically between Bucky and Evaline as both of them protested. "No, there are some parts of my past life I wanted to stay buried inside that glacier, thank you very much."

Bucky caught Evaline's eye over Steve's shoulder and mouthed the words "We'll finish this later" with a smirk before his best friend playfully shoved him, again sparking that warmth in Evaline's heart as she watched the closeness of their relationship.

Pushing back at Steve and still grinning, Bucky commented, "Alright, alright, I know when I'm not wanted! I'm going to head back inside and see if I'm needed in there. You all coming?"

Before Evaline could even ask, Steve read her mind and told her somberly, "They said they're going to take the evening to come up with some options and give them to us in the morning. I came out here to see if you wanted to make it an early night, as I'm sure you're a little jet lagged and tired from… everything else going on."

"An early night sounds great," Evaline said, gratefulness infusing her voice as she walked over to Steve and slipped her hand in his, interlacing their fingers as she smiled at Bucky. "Good night, Buck. And thank you."

"Anytime, Eva," Bucky said, grinning at both of them before he dipped back into where the scientists were all discussing Evaline's blood and the serum.

Sensing her mind was going back to that dark place, Steve tugged on her hand, earning her attention again as he said, "Ready?"

"Ready," she replied, feeling the ache of exhaustion in her bones and blood as she let Steve lead her to their quarters of the night. When they arrived, she mindlessly went through the motions in preparing for bed: removing her clothing, washing her face, brushing her teeth, changing into something more comfortable to sleep in.

As she exited the bathroom, she climbed into bed as Steve went through all of his pre-bed routine. He had turned the lights off for her, and although she shut her eyes and exhaustion wracked her body, she simply couldn't fall asleep as she tried to allow the sound of Steve's shower or the gentle breeze and distant music coming in through the window soothe her.

It wasn't until Steve was out of the shower and joined her in bed, however, that she finally found herself able to relax, especially as he embraced her from behind and kissed her shoulder and hair, murmuring against her skin, "We'll find an answer for you, Ev."

She didn't respond, worried if she opened her mouth that all of her fears and doubts would come spilling out. Instead, she nodded and simply wrapped her arms tighter around his that had circled around her waist, letting her fingers trail up and down his forearms a few times before she felt him relax against her, his breath evening out as he fell into a deep sleep.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, she did, too.


	23. Chapter 23

When they woke in the morning, they started off the day with little to no preamble as Evaline was beckoned almost immediately so they could start testing on her. Shuri promised no answers within the first day, and informed them that they would simply be running some basic tests to map Evaline's brain out and create a baseline for her normal neurological activity that they would then compare to abnormal tests designed to create the warranted response. Evaline's only job, Shuri assured her, was just to relax and act normal.

Which was so much harder to do when someone was instructing you to do so.

While one of Shuri's lab assistants pressed leads onto her scalp, brushing aside strands of hair and apologizing quietly under his breath, Evaline kept her eyes shut and all of her focus on the feel of Steve's thumb brushing over the back of her hand. Even with the blackness of her vision, however, Evaline was still brought back just by the feel of the electrodes to the anxiety and fear she had felt when she had first woken up in her current reality.

The day went by in a blur for Evaline as she relaxed into the chair, leaving her eyes closed or watching movies on the TV screen Shuri had placed in front of her. While various of their team members filtered in and out throughout the day, only Steve remained at Evaline's side the entire day while Tony and Bruce remained with Shuri somewhere behind Evaline and behind the screens.

"I think we should probably take a break for today," Shuri eventually said, nodding at her lab assistant, who gently pried the leads back off of Evaline's scalp and chest. For the first time all day, Evaline felt like she could finally breathe deeply, fully with the electrodes off of her skin.

As the lab assistant moved away, Shuri met Evaline's eyes and gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry we haven't found any answers today. We can keep trying, as long as you want to, and…"

"Shuri," Evaline said graciously, taking her hands in hers and squeezing them gratefully, "I wasn't expecting that today, anyway. I know it's going to take time. I just want to thank you for taking the time."

"Of course," Shuri said, nodding her head once as she turned toward another lab assistant calling out her name. "I've got to go check on some other things I've got running, but we'll continue this tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Evaline said, giving her another smile before the princess turned and bounded across her lab to where she was being beckoned.

As Evaline turned, Steve put out his hand to hers, asking quietly, "Want to go take a walk?"

She threw him a grateful smile before taking his hand, slipping her fingers between his and letting him lead the way out of the palace and into the surrounding city. As they made their way through various hallways and checkpoints, Evaline couldn't help but notice - and appreciate - how simple the palace was considering it was the home of royalty. While she had no doubt that signs of Wakanda's wealth lay behind the closed doors, the more public areas were only lightly adorned with items of cultural or historical significance and not much else.

As they exited out a side door and rounded around to the main street in front of the palace, earning only glances from the guards surrounding the area, Evaline called out to Steve in front of her, "Where are we going?"

"I'm going to take you to the best spot for Wakandan street food," Steve said, dragging her behind him through the crowd that had started coalescing just across the street from the palace. As far as the eye could see, Evaline spotted street vendors hawking their fare, whether it be beautifully hand-crafted jewelry and clothing, food still burning hot from the oil pans beside them, or promises of tarot card and palm readings.

While Evaline took in all the beautiful beaded jewelry at one stall, Steve excused himself to step one over, keeping Evaline in his vision line but also allowing for her to simply peruse the hut without him staring over her shoulder. As she was gently stroking the textured beads of a bracelet that was hanging on a display stile, she heard Steve calling for her, and turned to see that somehow she had gotten stuck on one side of the crowd while he remained on the other.

Since she was smaller than him, she used her tinier frame to move back through the crowd to him, surprised to see he was holding two steaming plates of what looked like roasted potatoes. Her heart soared at the smile on Steve's face as he held out one to her, saying, "Try it. You used to love it, so I'm sure you will now, too."

As Evaline bit into one of the pieces of fried food, which were crunchy on the outside but strangely moist on the inside, flavors of the tropics and foreign spices alike exploded throughout her mouth. Through her still halfway full mouth, she said, "Oh, my God. What are these?"

"They're called kelewele," Steve said as he smiled at the look of pleasure that crossed over Evaline's face. "They're spiced plantains with peanuts. What they are spiced with besides the flavors of the gods, I have no idea."

The comment made Evaline laugh to the point that one of the pieces of peanuts lodged itself in her throat for just a moment, before Steve smacked her back once and it flew out and landed on the table of the street stall they were walking by. They both looked at each other in embarrassment and panic for a moment before they burst out laughing and quickly walked away from the stall before the owner noticed the half-eaten peanut on his table.

As they moved throughout the stalls and crowd, Evaline was amazed for once that the stares they got had nothing to do with Steve being Captain America; she was sure, by the quick glance and then the disinterested turn away, that it had more to do with their light skin than anything else. It wasn't that they didn't belong, necessarily, but simply that they were a minority and easy to spot among the darker skin hues that surrounded them.

"God, it's so… freeing here," Evaline said, grinning widely around the market and the signs of life that surrounded them before she turned and looked back up into her boyfriend's eyes, which were filled with surprise and joy mirroring her own. She reached up and touched his face, drawing her fingers over his cheekbones and jaw as she murmured to him, "I never thought about how much I'd miss being able to see your face in the sunlight, surrounded by other people. That sounds weird, but…"

"But it's nice to be normal, for once," Steve said gently, understandingly, his hands going to her waist, a slightly bittersweet expression moving onto his face. Evaline watched as it threatened to border onto sadness and longing, as his face lifted further to the sun and the sky, and he said softly, "As much as I love what we do, and the team and family we have, sometimes it's nice to be just… us."

Evaline pressed her hand against the back of his neck, garnering his attention once more and lowering his gaze to hers before she went onto her tiptoes to kiss him. He easily swept her into his arms, picking her a few inches off the ground and holding her body flush to his.

An abrupt honking noise and the sound of shouts and gasps broke them apart, both of them going alert as they turned to where they could see the crowd fracturing apart. Some contraption looking like a hybrid between a rickshaw and a Tesla came careening up to them through the space the crowd had evacuated, and Evaline was surprised to see Shuri at the helm and Okoye beside her in the front seat. In the middle row, Bucky had one arm on the back of the seats and one leg stretched out on the cushion; in the last row, Tony was typing away on his phone while Wanda tried to untangle her waist-length brown hair and Natasha sent suspicious glances around at their surroundings.

"Get in, losers," Shuri said, tipping her gaze over the edge of her sunglasses. "We're going to dinner with the Queen Mother."

Bucky, giving a childish grin, moved his legs off the bench of seats as Evaline slid in next to him, Steve taking the other outer position. "I was keeping it warm for you all."

"He pulled the age card," Tony commented from the back seat, the roll of his eyes and his genuine annoyance making Evaline grin only wider at whatever friendly rivalry he and Bucky had going on. "He said because he was over a century year old, even though he's a genetically modified super soldier, that he felt the arthritis coming on. I would have fought him for it, but Romanov stuffed me in the back with her instead."

Natasha perked an eyebrow as she said, "I'm about to stuff something else somewhere else if you keep complaining."

While Bucky hooted with laughter and Wanda gave all of them slightly tired but loving smiles, Shuri called back over shoulder, "All of you, stop your nonsense and hold on tight! This will be a little bumpy of a ride."

At her request, Bucky and Steve both quickly threw their arms on the back of the seat and around Evaline's shoulders, their other arms reaching out to brace against the sides of whatever contraption Shuri was piloting. It turned out the warning, and the preparation following it, were well warranted; although it wasn't necessarily a bumpy ride, it certainly was one that realigned Evaline's spine and internal organs multiple times along the way.

When they finally arrived back at the palace, Evaline turned to go to her room, but Shuri called her back, asking, "Eva? Where are you headed?"

"To go change," Evaline said, turning to Shuri as she threw a thumb over her shoulder, back to where their rooms were. The entirety of their group gave them a confused look that she returned, asking, "Aren't we going to have dinner with your mother? What I'm wearing isn't great for dinner with the Queen."

"Oh, she's not the Queen of England!" Shuri said, laughing easily, shaking her head. "My mother is not impressed by opulence like other monarchs are. Although she prides herself in her… fashion, she does not expect or even wish to be surrounded by others who do. What you're wearing will do just fine. Now, stop delaying!"

Jumping forward, Shuri strung her arm through the crook of Evaline's elbow, pulling her forward and toward the Grand Dining Room as Evaline threw a helpless look over shoulder at Steve and Bucky, who were grinning at Shuri shepherding Evaline. Soon enough, they all arrived at the dining room, Shuri announcing them by bursting into the room with Evaline still at her side as she shouted, "Honey, I'm home!"

"Shuri," a calm but bemused voice said from the opposite end of the room. "Must you always enter the room that way?"

Automatically, Evaline's eyes were drawn to the source of who had spoken, and her eyes widened a little bit as she spotted the Queen Mother, who most certainly out-dressed them all combined. She was resplendent in an ornate and heavy-looking orange and yellow headdress that shot out in fabric cylinders from her scalp, looking like the sun was rising behind her, and a traditional Wakandan dress with the same colors and patterns present.

Slowly, she rose, a benevolent smile directed toward all of them as she said, "Welcome, Avengers. I am glad to see you all are well."

Although she wasn't surprised when she felt the weight of the Queen Mother's gaze resting solely on her with that comment, Evaline still had a difficult time building up the courage to look the monarch in the eyes. It wasn't the same with T'Challa, whose calm confidence put you at ease right away; the Queen Mother was simply regal, and it radiated from her in waves reaching even Evaline and her team clear across the room.

Steve reached out to put a hand on the small of Evaline's back, taking a small half-step ahead of her as he said, "The pleasure is all ours, Your Highness. Thank you for welcoming us back into your home."

"Of course, of course, although I wish my children had told me you were coming sooner," the Queen Mother said, shooting her adult children what could only be described as a maternal glare that made Shuri roll her eyes and T'Challa simply reply with a cheeky grin. The Queen Mother sighed, saying, "Blessed be Bast, they never tell me anything anymore. Hopefully, you all will be able to fill me in on their secrets during this meal. Please, come sit."

They did as she requested, Evaline choosing a seat about midway down the table for fear of freezing up around the Queen. However, she didn't need to worry; conversation flowed as easily and readily around the table as if they were simply eating as the team at the Tower. She was amazed at the ease with which the Wakandan royalty become enmeshed in their conversations, especially as the Queen Mother regaled them all with embarrassing anecdotes from T'Challa and Shuri's not-so-recent childhoods and pasts.

They made it through most of the courses without an issue, but then the conversation took a somber turn, especially as the Queen Mother's eyes rested on Evaline. Her expression softened as their gazes met and the Queen Mother said, "I am so glad to see that you are still so similar to the Evaline from before your accident."

In tandem, T'Challa and Shuri admonished, "Mother."

"No, it's fine," Evaline quickly said, reaching out to grab Steve's hands as she had seen him tense beside her. She gave him a reassuring squeeze that seemed to relax him a little bit before she gave the Queen Mother a smile in return and said, "I am also glad to return to some sense of normalcy. I don't know if I'm the same, necessarily, but I feel like… myself. Or, at least I'm beginning to maybe redefine what it means."

The positive response relaxed Steve even further, although he tensed again when the Queen Mother said, "I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to combine these two lives, or to figure out what was real and what wasn't real."

"Yes, Your Highness," Evaline admitted, fighting away a wince that threatened to take over her face. "It's been difficult to remember everything, or taking people for their word when they said something happened that I don't have any recollection of."

The Queen Mother smiled calmly, sagely, as she said, "Sometimes it is easier, just believing."

Although Evaline had begun to smile in response, a searing headache shot through her brain at the Queen Mother's words, leaving her gasping as nearly everyone around the table froze and went on high alert. She felt her nerves light up, neuron by neuron and atom by atom, from her head all the way down to her toes, feeling simultaneously as they were on fire and being woken from a long sleep.

"I'm fine," she said quickly to those gathered around the table, squeezing her eyes shut even as she felt her entire body tensing, trying to fight off whatever intrusive feeling had just come over her. She managed to even out her ragged breathing as she insisted, "It's just another headache, nothing too bad, I…"

"Eva," Steve interrupted gently, sliding his hand down her arm until it rested on her hand, his fingers slipping into her fist. "Eva, put the knife down."

That made her eyes flip open as she asked, "The kn- ?"

She looked down at the fist that Steve was wedging his fingers into, surprised she was holding her steak knife at the handle with a death grip. It took her a few minutes to send the signal from her brain to her fingers, but finally she let the steak knife drop to the surface of the table, the thud of it echoing across the deadly silent dining room.

When she looked up, she saw that members of the Royal Guard scattered around the room, including Okoye, had their various weapons aimed toward her. Heat rose in her cheeks and bile to her throat as she said, "Oh. I am so, so incredibly sorry, Your Highness, I didn't -"

The surprise had cleared from the Queen Mother's face before another calm smile graced it, and she said, "Mr. Barnes here did something strangely similar during his first dinner with us as well, although he didn't come out of his fugue as easily."

"If you would please excuse us, Mother," Shuri said respectfully, bowing once toward the head of the table, "I would like to bring Evaline to my lab to run a test on her."

"Of course," the Queen Mother said, nodding her head just slightly so as to not upset her elaborate headdress. She gave them all that same mother's smile again, soothing and slightly punishing, as she admitted, "That is what you all came here for, to get answers, not to listen to me prattle about."

Evaline threw her an apologetic smile before she said, "I would love to hear you prattle anytime, normally. Hopefully we'll be able to resume this dinner properly at a different time."

"Hopefully," the Queen Mother agreed before she stood from the table, prompting everyone else to stand up with her shortly after. "That dinner invitation extends to all of you, of course."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Steve said gratefully, in a manner that suggested the thanks was applicable for more than just the dinner invitation. The Queen Mother simply nodded in response, giving another gracious smile before she exited the room with her guards in tow, leaving the rest of them to exit out of the dining room and head back down to the lab.

When they arrived, Evaline headed straight to the chair she had sat in earlier, her small protective detail clustering around her immediately and only scattering when Shuri shooed them away. Steve and Wanda remained at either hip, while Bucky and Tony stood at the foot of her chair and the rest of their team members set up a light detail around the room as if they were expecting an attack at any moment.

She realized she was getting strangely used to the feel of the glue they used to keep the electrodes on her soft hair, as well as the sweaty sensation of the sensors they put on her chest to monitor her heart rate and breathing in connection with her brainwave activity. What she wasn't used to, however, was the concerned look on Shuri's face as she registered whatever pulled up on the screen after only moments of turning it all on.

Sitting up straighter in the chair, or as much as it would allow considering it promoted a lying down position, Evaline asked, "What?"

Shuri's eyes flickered over to Bruce's for a moment, who had taken up a position behind her as the testing had begun. Although Shuri's poker face was slightly better than his, Evaline knew to expect bad news by the sight of the frown marring Bruce's face - and she tried to brace herself for whatever they were going to say next.

Wincing as she did so, Shuri moved the screen to face them, showing indeterminable spikes that looked like a drawing that Daria had made for Evaline when they had visited her family in Rhode Island last. Pointing her finger and tracing a set of three lines in particular, Shuri said, "This is the same pattern we saw in Bucky's brain when we started saying his trigger words."

Feeling a pit in her stomach open up, Evaline managed to ask through her dry mouth, "Are you saying that… that the word your mother said, that started with a 'B', could be a trigger word?"

"It's extremely likely, considering your neurological response," Shuri admitted, her expression somber.

Steve rested a hand against her back, his voice over her head as he asked Shuri, "Is there a way for us to figure out her other trigger words, so that we can keep them from being said in normal conversations and whatnot?"

"Well, we figured out, loosely, what each word meant to Bucky," Shuri said, turning as she quickly scribbled on a clear white board behind her.

1\. Longing: constant state of being

2\. Rusted: state of being, had he died; reference to metal arm?

3\. Seventeen: year he was born, last two digits

4\. Daybreak: hopeful new stage of life?

5\. Furnace: how he was modeled as a soldier

6\. Nine: year he was born, second digit

7\. Benign: state before activation

8\. Homecoming: most important thing to him

9\. One: year he was born, first digit

10\. Freight Car: how he presumably died

"It's not exact," Shuri admitted, noting Evaline's doubting look as her gaze snagged on the the question marks on the board, "but it was the closest to an explanation we could get, and we don't think it's wrong, necessarily. The words had to have been chosen for a reason, or else they wouldn't mean anything to Bucky or trigger anything within his brain."

Bucky, who had slowly dragged his haunted away from the words on the board, put his eyes on Shuri instead as he said, "What your mother said, about my fugue being worse than hers when getting triggered… why do you think that is?"

"A lot of what was done to you was also enhanced, or worsened, by the fact that you were receiving electroconvulsive therapy at the same time, thus molding your brain and focusing you only on your trigger words and the commands you were given," Shuri said, not easing the news a bit for her captivated audience. "Since that was not the case with Evaline, her responses may not be as… aggressive."

"But when did the Mystery Man, assuming this is who is responsible, even do this to her? He didn't do it to her after stabbing her with the serum, because we rescued her," Sam said, his expression scarily somber as he took up a position right behind Tony at the foot of the bed.

Shuri winced slightly before saying, "From what you all have told me about what's been going on with her, I would guess he gave her more serum and implanted these trigger words when she went missing in the woods around the compound that night."

It went quiet all around the room, especially between the team members who had been there that night and had found Evaline covered in Luke's blood. Steve, especially, looked like he was going to be sick as they all realized Evaline had been taken and altered under their watch, after her initial accident and everything else she had been through.

Turning to the board, Shuri broke the silence and the tension by writing the numbers one through nine on the white board, scribbling "believing" next to the first slot. By the number three, she wrote out the words "eighty five", followed by writing the word "nine" by the sixth spot and "one" by the ninth.

"This is what we know for sure, so far, if Evaline's words are anything like Bucky's - which, I'm assuming they are by the way she's been reacting," Shuri said, pointing to the board.

All of them eyed the words with surprise, Tony voicing all their thoughts as he asked, "How the hell have we not said some of these words? Like the numbers, especially."

"Well, something we've learned is that it has to be the exact word. So for example, if I said the word 'believe' instead of the full word," Shuri said pointedly, all eyes quickly moving to Evaline, who remained still and did not respond, "then it triggers nothing. So, that's a way some of the words could have gotten ignored; the others, especially the numbers, are probably just because we've gotten lucky."

Steve reiterated, "Then we definitely need to figure out the remainders and keep them from being said."

"We're not playing Charades or Pictionary until we figure it out," Tony said, visibly irritable as he faced the puzzle he could not solve.

Shuri met his eyes, her face uncharacteristically stoic as she said, "Well, we can't even if we wanted to, unless you wanted to read through the entirety of the dictionary. It's hard to say exactly what, beyond the birth years and the first word, are her triggers. She's definitely never done this to anything anyone else has said before?"

All eyes in the room swiveled toward Evaline, but she shook her head, saying, "I don't think so. I think I would've remembered feeling like somebody had wired a needle through my brain all the way down to my nerves."

Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Steve blanch with the description of the pain she had gone through; at the foot of the bed, Bucky pressed his lips together in recognition of the feeling. "Well, the only reason we knew my words was because we were quite literally handed them. Do you have any ideas of how to find them besides literally reading the dictionary out loud?"

"No," Shuri admitted, soberly shaking her head, "but give me the night. Sometimes I come up with things in my dreams. We'll meet back up tomorrow, here at 8AM?"

Everyone muttered their agreement before the leads were taken off of Evaline once more, and they all headed back to their respective rooms. More than ever, Evaline was grateful Bucky had insisted she and Steve share a room; she was getting a little too used to having another body in the bed with her, and especially tonight, after the strange science fiction-filled day she had just finished, she wanted someone beside her.

She nestled into the amazingly plush king-sized bed as soon as they entered the room while Steve stepped into the shower, and pretended to be asleep when he exited, knowing he would want to have a full conversation about their day that she simply didn't have the energy to participate in. Her eyes shut, she felt him rest into bed beside her, sighing before he kissed the top of her head and settled into the sheets.

Although he stilled within twenty minutes, Evaline had to fight to keep her own body in one position so she didn't wake him or alert him that she was still up. She tried to count the tiles in the ceiling above her, or draw shapes around two different points of the room as the night crawled by and her heart couldn't settle enough to allow her to sleep.

She finally gave up and looked over at the clock, and noticed that based on the late time in Wakanda, it was probably day time in Rhode Island. Suddenly, more than anything, she realized she really just wanted to talk to her mom. While she understood she couldn't tell her the entirety of the truth, she was already plotting a work-around for how to get much needed maternal advice from her without admitting that she was an agent for a top secret spy organization who had been injected with some mysterious substance that made her susceptible to manipulation and suggestion.

Although she searched the entirety of her and Steve's room together as quietly as she could, she found she couldn't place her phone anywhere. Instead, she picked up his phone, using the backdoor Tony had shown her to sneak into the highly encrypted piece of technology to enter in and locate the app he had downloaded to help the other team members' find their own, especially after Sam had left it at Target once and some small child had managed to dial Fury's number and get ahold of him.

She zoomed in on the icon that represented her phone, seeing that it was in the lab where they had been running all the tests on her earlier in the day as she internally sighed, bemoaning the fact that it was in the one place she didn't want to go.

Still, she carefully exited out of their room, making it out without waking Steve up but surprising herself when she saw there were Wakandan Royal Guard members posted at either end of the hallway. They looked at her with stoic expressions but she simply lifted Steve's phone, saying, "I'm just tracking my phone back to the lab. Do I… do I have to take somebody as an escort or something?"

"We are not here to restrict you," one of the guards said in heavily-accented but incredibly sharp English. "We are here to protect you. If you would like an escort, we can summon someone for you, but it is not required."

"In that case, I think I might just go for a walk by myself down to the lab," Evaline said, giving them a polite smile that was not returned before she made a hasty exit into the elevator at the end of the hall.

She eyed the palm pad warily before resting her own hand against it, a Wakandan-accented voice immediately coming over the PA system. "Good evening, Ms. Kaeser. Where may I take you?"

"To Shuri's lab, please," Evaline said, settling her back against one of the railings as the elevator soundlessly and effortlessly dropped to the labs, which were located in the subterranean levels of the palace.

The trip only took about fifteen seconds, and as the doors opened, the AI called out again, "Have a nice night, Ms. Kaeser."

Unsure if she should respond to the AI, Evaline decided not to as she stepped out to the lab instead and heard the doors close behind her. As she looked around, she was surprised to see that not all of the lights were turned off, nor was she alone. The lab assistant who had aided Shuri in placing all the wires and leads on Evaline's skin earlier was sitting at a desk with a solitary light on, studying a sheath of papers and consulting with a tablet to the side. He looked up as soon as Evaline opened the door, giving her a curious look that made her stop in her tracks.

"I'm so sorry to intrude," Evaline said, bowing her head respectfully as the lab assistant continued to eye her. "I think I left my phone in here earlier."

A small smile crossed his features as he reached forward and lifted up her phone into the air. "I was wondering whose this was. I figured it belonged to someone on your team, because of the level of encryption on it. All I could do was look at a black screen with the time and date."

Laughing, Evaline strode across the room and gratefully took the phone from him, sliding it into her back pocket. "Yeah, Tony's a little paranoid about someone stealing any of our phones and having access to all our numbers and info and whatnot. I'm sure you all have some similar level of security on your personal phones, working in a palace and whatnot."

The smile faltered for a moment on his face, before resurrecting itself as he nodded and said, "Of course."

"I apologize," Evaline said, forgetting about her phone and calling her mother for the time being as the assistant gave her a curious look. "After everything that's been happening and all the help you've been giving us, I don't think I've bothered to even learn your name. That was incredibly rude of me."

The curiosity was replaced by a gentle smile as the lab assistant said, "It's Asani, ma'am."

"Well, Asani, what are you doing up this late?" Evaline asked, feeling like it would be rude to just leave the lab assistant. However, when she saw the slightly apologetic smile that the assistant adopted, she felt embarrassed as she realized the probable reason the assistant was up late. "Oh. You're trying to figure out what's wrong with me."

"Nothing is wrong with you, Ms. Kaeser," Asani said smoothly, shaking his head. "Something was done to you, and we intend on figuring it out."

"Well, I appreciate it, really," Evaline said as amicably as she could, already beginning to back up out of the lab although she kept her eyes on Asani's. She joked, "Now, if I could only get my mind to shut off for a moment so I could get some sleep, maybe I'll actually be able to provide you with some sort of help tomorrow."

"If you are having trouble sleeping, Ms. Kaeser, we have many medicines in here that might make it easier for you to drift off," Asani said, his dark eyes meeting hers heavily. Just as she went to object, he quickly added, "It won't sedate you, necessarily, but will just ease your worries and muscles and promote sleep. It doesn't force it."

Normally, Evaline was against any sort of medical interference such as taking drugs, but she felt, deep within, just how exhausted she was. Asani saw her moment of indecision as he said, "It won't affect any of the tests the Princess is running on you, and nobody but you and I will know come tomorrow morning."

Biting her lip, Evaline finally walked back toward him, saying, "Okay."

Asani quickly busied himself with a machine against one wall, gathering various supplies and pulling up a liquid from a black-capped vial he took out of the fridge, while Evaline made herself comfortable in the chair she had laid in earlier. This time, however, Asani only brought over the medicine in the syringe as well as a needle.

Jokingly, Evaline asked, "No pills, I'm assuming?"

"We do have pills, but I just thought this would be the most effective for what you need currently," Asani answered honestly, his dark eyes meeting hers again. "Is that alright?"

"Yes," Evaline said, trying to relax herself into the chair. Despite everything that had happened to her, and all the tests they had run, and the darkness and mystery of the things their team faced, Evaline still did not feel extremely comfortable around needles, so she decided to close her eyes and lean her head back against the chair. "Just kind of give me a heads up, alright?"

"I'm just going to slide this needle into your arm," Asani said, pressing his thumb to the upper part of Evaline to pull back the skin and see her vein better, although she could feel his eyes strangely on her face. "It's not quite a shot… or an injection, but…"

Evaline felt a wave of pain shoot from her head down to her nerves, her stomach turning as she realized what was happening: Asani had inadvertently found one of her trigger words. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but she felt Asani's gaze on her as he slid the needle into her arm and he said a little too calmly, "It's alright, Evaline, be calm. You're safe. Here, there is no fight, or explosion, or detonation…"

Another pulse of nerve pain shot down the length of her body, adding to the one from just moments before as Evaline screamed, unable to fight the involuntary response. She felt restraints click around her wrists and ankles as she continued screaming, trying to pull against them as she shouted, "Asani, just stop talking! If you stop talking, then I'll stop reacting to your words!"

"Well, that would defeat my purpose," Asani said, his voice eerily even now as he slid the needle back into her arm and shot something into her vein that burned like holy hell as she let out another scream, hoping someone was going to hear her. Despite her screaming, Evaline still heard Asani say, "You were made to be a weapon, Agent Kaeser. And I intend on figuring out exactly how to use you."

"No, please," Evaline said, unsure whether she was going to throw up, have a heart attack, pass out, or all of the above. She felt the medicine biting against every inch of her skin and muscles, frying parts of her brain as she screamed out in agony, in hopes that someone would hear her and come check on her.

She was finally able to open her eyes, and although she could barely see Asani because of the tears blurring her vision, she saw his serene expression as he whispered, "You are so weak. I can't believe you ever considered yourself a heroine… or a hero."

The third trigger word nearly sent Evaline into unconsciousness as she felt her body betray her, ignoring the messages her own control was delivering and listening to the ones implanted there by someone else and the serum. Instead of screaming out like she had been and like she wanted to, her body wouldn't allow it; instead, she simply stated, "I will kill you when I get out of this. And I will, because you can't get me out of here without people noticing."

"What makes you think I want to get you out of here?" Asani asked, still strangely detached and calm as he remained in control of the situation. "We've wiped your memory before, what makes you think we can't do it again? Now, I command you to be silent."

Although Evaline's brain had gone haywire at the word 'we', confirming her worst fears that Asani didn't work for the Wakandan royalty afterall, his command kept her mouth from opening to verbalize all the questions she wanted to voice. She continued to struggle against the restraints, even as Asani grabbed a second syringe full of the medicine he had given her and began to connect it to the intravenous tubing coming out of her arm.

Suddenly, a deadly calm voice asked from the shadows, "What the hell are you doing?"

The words had come from Bucky, who was standing in a doorway along the west side of the lab, in loose sweatpants and an old Marine Corps t-shirt that Evaline remembered buying for his birthday years before, in an attempt to befriend Bucky and impress Steve before she had started dating him. Evaline felt relief flood her chest at the sight of him, and new tears filled her eyes as she met his gaze and she saw a flash of panic that quickly morphed into fury as he looked back to Asani.

She broke through whatever haze the medicine had put over her mind as she shouted, "Bucky, he's using the tri - "

"Believing! Eighty-Five! Injection! Nine! Hero! One! Detonation!" Asani shouted in rapid-fire succession, pointing at Bucky, whose eyes went wide as he realized what was happening. Evaline felt all of the restraints around her limbs retract suddenly, although the use of her trigger words had basically rendered her innate until Asani yelled, "Shoot him, Agent Kaeser! Shoot the intruder!"

Although her vision was plenty clear, the messages her brain was sending the rest of her body got lost somewhere on the way. Her hand held a pistol Asani had left on the table beside the chair she had been laying in, the safety already clicked off and her finger already resting on the trigger. Before it bent, however, she shouted, "Duck! I can't…"

She surprised even herself when she squeezed off the trigger, Bucky ducking just in time as the round lodged in the wall behind where his head had been. He somersaulted across the floor as Asani shouted from somewhere behind her, "No! You are supposed to obey me! Believing! Eighty-Five! Injection! Nine! Hero! One! Detonation!"

Her vision fractured into fragments, her eyes trying to focus on Bucky, who was finally getting back to his feet. He was bent at the waist, and as he stood and twisted around to face Evaline again, she felt her heart stop in her chest as everything went horridly still for a moment.

She could only watch helplessly as Bucky's face changed into the amorphous black mass and generic baseball cap that was the Mystery Man.


	24. Chapter 24

As she eyed the Mystery Man across from her, Evaline felt bile rising up into her throat and her muscles all tense in preparation for her own defense.

"My Evaline," the Mystery Man said, shaking his head as his smirk glinted in the fluorescent lighting of the lab. "How strong and powerful you've grown with my words in your mind. Can you imagine all the potential I could unlock within you if you just gave in to me completely?"

Evaline shook her head, saying, "Stop it. You know I won't let you."

The Mystery Man tipped his head as if in amusement, his smile catching the light again. "You say that like you have a choice. Nine, one, eight, five…"

Feeling the nerves in her head alight again with pain, Evaline screamed and pushed through the pain as she rushed at the Mystery Man's figure. He seemed to brace his own body as she attacked, the two of them parring back and forth until Evaline shoved him across one of the lab tables. The force of his body shattered a whole series of test tubes before his back hit against one of the windows looking into the vibranium tunnels surrounding the lab, causing an alarm to begin to blare.

Hoping that she had knocked him out for good, Evaline was disappointed when the Mystery Man stood again, albeit slowly, from the mess of glass around him. As he lowered his body and rushed toward her, presumably to tackle her around the waist, she flipped over his shoulders and simultaneously wrapped her legs around his neck, twisting as she brought him down and she felt something snap between her thighs. She heard the sound of him beginning to choke, his fingers digging into her thighs desperately as she felt them beginning to bruise deep into her muscle.

Eventually, his fingertips went so deep that Evaline's nerves betrayed her and her legs loosened, allowing for the Mystery Man to stumble away from her before she had had an opportunity to fully strangle him. He pushed her away and Evaline took a few steps backward before catching her balance again, her attention diverted as the she heard a beep behind her that made her turn.

The elevator doors at the back of the lab opened, and people poured out of it, looking for a split second like various members of her team with Steve at the helm, allowing for Evaline to finally relax - until they all began to morph into something else. Everyone in the room became her adversaries, transforming into the Mystery Man, Nitro, Loki, Chitauri aliens, HYDRA agents, and even some characters that Evaline didn't recognize in her delirium.

The leader, who she had thought originally to be Steve but was instead Baron Strucker, a former leader of HYDRA, reached out to Evaline and said, "Eva, listen to me. You need to stop fighting. You're safe, nothing - "

Evaline did not give him the opportunity to finish his statement, quickly diving for a gun displayed in a prototype case on the table beside her. She wasted no time at all in raising the gun and squeezing the trigger, feeling an electric bullet discharge. Just as she felt the chamber click, metallic fingers wrapped around her forearm and Baron Strucker ducked to the other side, making the bullet miss his arm by just centimeters as Evaline whipped around to face her assailant, noting that it was Bucky keeping her from fighting her enemies.

Sure that his Winter Soldier persona had been activated, Evaline cried, "Buck, let go of me! I'm not the enemy here! You have to help me!"

"I'm sorry, Ev," Bucky said, sorrow in his voice and clarity in his eyes that confused Evaline considering the death grip his metal arm still had around her flesh one. She watched him grimace for just a second before he said, "Nine."

A wave of fire crawled along her neurons as she screamed and was brought down to her knees, her arms quickly tightened behind her back and someone's hands grabbing her legs as voices began to shout all around her. While some of the tenors were nearly recognizable, they morphed into alien languages and accents she could not place, where she could only understand a sentence at a time.

Above all the craziness, she clearly heard a deep voice demand, "Give her the injection!"

The trigger word brought a new wave of pain shooting from her brain to her nerves as she shut her eyes, tensed all the muscles in her body, and screamed. The fight went out of her just long enough for someone to tease out a vein in her neck and slide a needle in, making her relive through the most terrifying moment of her life as she yelled, "Please, stop! Leave me alone! Bucky, help me!"

"Give her more," someone demanded as she continued to scream, distantly realizing somewhere in the back of her mind that she wasn't helping anything by doing so.

"If I give her any more, she'll go into cardiac arrest," another voice, this one female, shot back tightly.

"If you don't, she might have a mental break that she won't come back from," the first voice called back, loud, yet calm. "Give her half a dose, hopefully that'll be enough to at least get her mind to calm."

"No! No more!" Evaline shouted, trying to kick and claw at her invisible transgressors, although arms like iron were holding her immobile. "Stop giving me the serum!"

The grip around her relaxed a little bit, then re-tightened as the deep voice commanded, "Ignore her. Administer it."

Evaline screamed as another needle slipped into her neck, before the world fell mercifully black.

—

When Evaline awoke from a dreamless sleep, she felt like she had the hangover from hell. As she opened her eyes, she realized she was still restrained to the same lab chair that Asani had strapped her to the night before in Shuri's lab, and she quickly looked around to take an assessment of the rest of her surroundings.

It didn't take long for her to soothe, however, as a hand slipped in hers and a voice asked, "Eva?"

She glanced to her right and saw Steve looking at her hopefully. She reached up to touch his face with her other hand before remembering the restraints that were holding her down. Feeling her anxiety begin to climb again, she said, "Steve, why am I restrained? I don't… I can't…"

Turning over his shoulder, Steve barked, "Take the restraints off."

"I'll take them off when I determine her to be ready to be released. They're for our safety and her own," Strange responded, stepping out from behind Steve as he quickly flashed a light in either of Evaline's eyes, making her blink rapidly in surprise. "Evaline, can you tell me where you are?"

"Wakanda. In Shuri's lab," Evaline said, futilely pulling at the restraints as she turned her gaze from Steve to Strange instead. "Strange, please, just…"

He cut her off with a simple shake of the head, saying, "I know you want to get out of the restraints, but just answer a couple of questions for me first, okay?"

Evaline nodded, trying to calm herself as she heard her heart monitor's noise behind her begin to slow. Strange allowed her a few more moments to collect herself before he asked, "Can you tell me who all is in the room with you?"

Taking a quick glance in the room, Evaline took stock of her companions as she rattled them off to Strange: himself, Steve, Bucky, Shuri, Bruce, Vision, Tony, and Wanda. Conspicuously absent were Natasha, Sam, and T'Challa, as Evaline asked, "Where's everybody else?"

"Talking to Asani downstairs," Shuri said gently, the mention of her lab assistant spiking Evaline's heart rate again and making her wince. Strange threw the Wakandan princess a cautionary look that she ignored as she stepped in front of him, becoming the sole focus of Evaline's gaze as she said, "I am so terribly sorry for the pain and trauma he caused you. We have a very intense vetting process here, and I don't know how he managed to slip past our normal barriers."

"It's not your fault," Evaline said quickly, reassuring the obviously guilt-ridden scientist. "Even the best defenses can be breached. We've learned that well enough at this point."

"Speaking of defenses…" Strange said slowly, carefully, as he tipped his head in curiosity and looked at Evaline. "What exactly was going through your mind when you were attacking us? It didn't quite seem like you just lost it, it seemed like you were almost… hallucinating or something."

"That's because I was. When I looked you at, Bucky, I saw the Mystery Man," Evaline said, shaking her head as she looked up to meet the Winter Soldier's surprised gaze. "I'm sorry I attacked you."

His look softened as he said, "Ev, I know you wouldn't have without good reason. You don't have to apologize for anything. I'm the one who left you all marked up."

Evaline's eyes both went directly to the purpling bruise in the shape of a handprint that was on her thigh, no doubt from where Bucky had tried to pry her off of him the night before. She winced as she tried to move one of the legs against the restraints, the muscle pulling hard and pushing against both the strap and the bruises Bucky had given her.

Tony snapped at Strange, "That good enough for you, Doc? Maybe we can uncage her now?"

Looking annoyed more than angry with Tony's comment and tone, Strange nodded as Wanda used her telekinesis to move the straps and restraints. As they came loose, Evaline rubbed at her sore and raw wrists, stretching out her fingers to revitalize her circulation. Steve took her hands in his and leant down to kiss her pulse on both of her now exposed wrists, making the beat jump for a moment before it resumed its regular rhythm.

As her breath returned to normal, Evaline asked gently, "So. What next?"

"We continue what we were doing," Shuri said, her eyes glittering with excitement at the mention of her science experiment. "We hook you back up, if you're still willing, to try and map that brain of yours, and continue to run tests on the serum that was given to you to make you so susceptible. I already started running labs back when Bucky was first brought in, but it's far fresher in your blood, so…"

"Woah, woah, woah, hold on," Steve said quickly, visibly bristling beside Evaline. "I think our first concern is her safety, because you're not going to have a specimen to test if they get to her again. She wasn't safe here, and she wasn't safe at the Compound. Where the hell can she be safe?"

"Steve," Evaline said gently, reaching out to take his hand in hers as she gave it a gentle squeeze that calmed him down just a bit. Her eyes moved from him to the rest of the team that stared at them. Sighing, she said, "He's kind of right. What, really, are our options?"

All eyes swiveled to the de facto leader of their group when Steve was too emotional to make the decision: Tony. Under the gaze of everyone in the room, he pressed his lips together for a moment before suggesting, "I think it's best if you two go off the grid for a while. We don't know what they want Evaline for, and it's safer to hide her right now than have her traipsing about playing amateur detective with all of us."

Shuri quickly stepped forward and shook her head, saying, "I have only barely begun to map her brain and run the experiments I need to. I can't think of any other place that has the equipment like we do - not even your Tower, Tony. If you want answers for Evaline, I think it would be in your best benefit to stay."

"Like Steve said, though," Tony argued calmly, speaking slowly, "there's no point on finding answers if we lose her to this guy. Or someone else, for that matter."

Mashing her lips together, obviously having to physically fight off responding to Tony with a sassy comeback, Shuri took a few deep breaths before saying, "Okay. I'll see what equipment I can have shipped over there to you, or if there's a blueprint I can send you to build it from scratch. You are capable of following blueprints, correct?"

Tony blinked at Shuri before responding, "I liked you better when you were younger and less angst filled."

She simply gave him a blank stare in return and asked, "Is that a yes?"

"Yes, that's a yes," Tony said, rolling his eyes good-naturedly before they moved to land on Strange. "What do you think, Doc?"

"We'll just see what we can do with what we already got," Strange said, sounding oddly optimistic for once. Tony gave him an overt look of disbelief, causing Strange's scowl to return as he commented, "I can be positive every once in a while."

"Emphasis on the 'once'," Tony cut back quickly, eyes flipping down to his watch. "Quinjet is all warmed up on the launch pad and ready to roll whenever you all are. I've had Friday call the rest of the team from where they're questioning Asani, and they're going to meet us up there."

Steve reached out to offer Evaline a hand and help her slide off of the lab chair that had been keeping her prisoner, before he slipped his fingers between hers and gave her hand a squeeze. "You ready?"

Eyeing the still shattered window of Shuri's lab, a shiver went down Evaline's spine as she turned away and nodded in response to Steve's question. The Avengers said goodbye to their Wakandan counterparts, as well as Strange, who would be staying behind in Wakanda until he had to leave for some meeting of the sorcerers in Thailand later that day.

Letting Strange continue his work of looking constipated in front of a screen with criss-crossing lab results, Evaline turned to her newest friends, feeling sad she was saying goodbye to them already. She embraced T'Challa, then Shuri, pulling away from the Wakandan royalty as she said, "I'm sorry our time together was cut so short, and that we bothered you basically for nothing, and that Bucky and I kind of destroyed your lab, and…"

Shuri quickly reached forward and grabbed Evaline's hands in her own, squeezing them as she said reassuringly, "There is not a single thing you need to apologize for. We are glad to have seen you, for however short or long a period as we could; we love being bothered by you all; and the lab is fixable. Please, do not worry about any of that. Just worry about keeping yourself safe; we'll worry about making you better."

Evaline gave her a grateful smile before turning and, after taking Steve's hand back in her own, heading up to the launchpad and the waiting Quinjet. The rest of their teammates were waiting for them there, including the ones who had been downstairs interrogating Asani. Evaline turned away as she noticed Sam offer Natasha a handkerchief to wipe away blood that was spotting on her knuckles. Although she had participated in worse violence herself and knew that her team was just doing everything they could to protect her, the idea of Natasha beating someone for answers made her stomach turn.

While the team moved with ease throughout the cabin of the Quinjet in both preparation for the flight and for the duration of it, Evaline placed earbuds in as she pretend to doze on and off for the entirety of the ride. Really, she couldn't fall asleep as she felt her friends and teammates tiptoeing around her; although they all knew she wasn't necessarily unstable, she knew they also feared of saying anything that may prove to be one of the unknown trigger words and setting off whatever had happened back in the Wakandan lab.

When they arrived back in the States and at Stark Tower, they all made quick work of packing up and heading to their respective assignments. Steve and Evaline would be taking an undercover car straight to Evaline's family's summer cabin, which had been made into a safe house when Evaline had first joined S.H.I.E.L.D. in case her family was ever threatened. During the ride, they were flanked discreetly by Wanda and Sam in one car and Natasha and Bucky in another while Tony and Vision ran interference above them and watched the skies for any potential threats.

Evaline and Steve rode in the car to Rhode Island in silence for most of the ride, Steve the only one who attempted to say anything as he pointed out things alongside the road or kept bothering Evaline about whether or not she was hungry. He also constantly fiddled with the radio in order to break up the silence and provide them with a small change of scenery, but most of it went unnoticed by Evaline as she remained in her own head.

When they pulled up to the cabin, darkness enveloped it and all of the open space around it. Lights were on, all on the first level of the cabin, beckoning Steve and Evaline toward the warmth of inside as Evaline realized distantly that her team members and other trusted S.H.I.E.L.D agents were setting up in the forest around them.

With a shiver that she waved off when Steve gave her a look of concern, Evaline continued to head toward the house, seeing the door open as her mother stepped through the doorway. Leaving the safety of Steve's side, Evaline took off through the front lawn of the cabin, sprinting toward her mother and nearly tackling her to the floor as she was wrapped up in her embrace.

"Oh, my baby girl," Genevieve Kaeser said as she hid her lips in her daughter's hair. "I am so happy to see you, darling."

Evaline raised her head from her mother's shoulder, sure if they continued their embrace that she would simply fall to pieces in her mother's arms, when she saw that they were not alone. Although she was not surprised to see her oldest brother, Jeremy, standing over her mother's right shoulder, she was surprised to see who stood behind her left. With a dark brown buzzcut, sharp hazel eyes, and mounds of muscles over either shoulder that were hidden only slightly by the Marines t-shirt he wore, her younger brother, Gabriel, was grinning at her.

She wrapped up her younger brother in a tight embrace next, digging her face into his shoulder as she felt tears beginning to rise up into her eyes. He hugged her back, but a little bit of anger and concern leeched into his voice as he said, "Woah, Ev. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Evaline said, digging her face further into his shoulder when he tried to pull away. She only told a half-lie as she explained, "I'm just grateful that you made it. It's been too long."

She felt a little bit of the tension release from her brother's body as his voice rumbled against her, neither of them relaxing their grips around the other as he commented, "I'm sure your Star-Spangled boyfriend pulled some strings to get me home. Wouldn't be the first time, right?"

"It's good to see you, too, Gabe," Steve said from somewhere behind Evaline, and she knew him well enough to hear the faked joy in his voice without even looking at him. She saw his hand reach out around her right side to meet Gabe's in a tight, quick handshake that Steve broke first. "You, too, Jeremy."

Evaline moved out of the way so Steve could give her older brother a handshake as well and lean down to give her mother a kiss on the cheek. Although things were tense between them right now, due to Evaline's own personal issues, her heart still warmed at the sight of Steve greeting her family and effortlessly stepping into his own position among them.

As Mrs. Kaeser stepped away from Steve, beaming at him, her smile broke with a heavy yawn that had all three of her children looking over at her in concern. She waved them off, saying, "It's nothing. It's just been a long day, trying to get everything ready for you all here after Steve's call, and then waiting for you two to finally make an appearance."

"We can catch up tomorrow, then," Evaline said gently, reaching out to touch her mom on the arm. She looked like she was going to argue, so Evaline quickly shook her head and said, "Mom, we're not going anywhere, I promise. We have all the time in the world tomorrow to talk, okay? You need some rest."

Evaline knew just how exhausted her mom was when she gave up the fight and nodded, admitting, "It might do me some good to get a few hours' shut eye."

"Get more than that," Gabe said protectively, leaning down to kiss his mom goodnight. "Love you, Ma."

All of the children said goodnight to Mrs. Kaeser before she exited up the stairs, before Jeremy turned to the two newcomers with a smile on his face. "So, Heinekens for everyone?"

"I'm going to go to bed, too. It was a long ride in," Evaline said, as Steve nodded emphatically, turning presumably to follow. She placed a hand against his chest, meeting his eyes as she said, "Why don't you stay up with my brothers for a little bit? I'm sure they'd love to interrogate you."

It was a good thing Steve's face was turned away from the other Kaeser siblings, because only Evaline saw the look of hurt that crossed over it as he realized she was keeping him at bay for the night. Still, he had no defense to give in front of her brothers, who would jump on him immediately if they thought anything was less than perfect; so, instead, he said, "Alright," and kissed the top of her head before Evaline turned and went up the stairs alone.

When she made it up to the room that was always hers when they came to the cabin, she quickly changed her clothes into pajamas before crashing in the bed, negating the rest of her nighttime routine as she simply lacked the energy to complete any of the requisite tasks.

Although she was exhausted from the stress of the last two days, she tossed and turned for the better part of an hour before deciding to get up. She snuck downstairs, hearing the guys' loud laughter as she did so, and headed into the kitchen in search of the spearmint tea her mom always kept stocked for her.

Despite everything that was swirling around in her own mind, Evaline couldn't help but smile as she overheard the regular conversation Steve and her brothers were having, about their consistent Yankees and Red Sox rivalry. A pang of guilt shot through Evaline as she thought about how much she had uprooted Steve's life with all of her own drama in the last several months, and the guilt was quickly followed by a small bit of jealousy of their normalcy as the guys chuckled at some comment Jeremy had made about a catcher on one of the teams.

Taking a severe turn in the conversation, Gabe asked almost lazily, "So, Steve, I've been meaning to ask: why'd you end up never proposing to our sister even though you asked for our permission months ago?"

The sound of Steve choking on his beer was louder than the gasp that came out of Evaline's mouth. Quickly, she leant forward and peeked around the corner leading into the living room, only able to see the side of everyone's faces as her brothers sat on the couch facing Steve, tensed in the armchair opposite them.

Jeremy remained quiet, but did not argue or stop his younger brother as Gabe demanded, "So, what's the deal? Are you giving up? Did you change your mind?"

"No. I love Evaline, and I know that there is no one else I would want to spend the rest of my life with," Steve said adamantly, using the same gaze on her brothers that he used to put fear in HYDRA agents and invading aliens to stress his point effectively.

Unaffected by his glare, Gabe gave him one in return and asked, "And?"

"And…" Steve's glare fell, and he suddenly looked closer to his actual age as a glimmer of concern crossed over Jeremy's face. Sighing, Steve admitted, "And that's what I'm unsure about. How long is the rest of my life? And what kind of quality is it, exactly? What kind of life can I promise and provide Evaline? I don't know if I'll ever be done being Captain America, and she deserves me to be all hers, and not have me running off to whatever villain or crisis demands me instead."

Several tense moments of silence passed between the three of them before Gabe finally said, "That is a lame ass excuse, man."

"Gabe," Jeremy said tightly, jumping up between his now standing younger brother and Steve, who remained in the armchair and looked relatively morose. Jeremy even went as far to put his hands against his younger brother's chest that Gabe easily pushed off, although he remained where he stood.

Gabe met Steve's eyes and nearly growled to him, "You better come up with some better explanation for why you won't make an honest woman out of our sister. It's too late for you to be having all these issues with your mortality. We've already brought you into our homes, our family, and we don't do that lightly. We've all known who you were from the start - an actual, real life superhero - and we understood what that meant, that you could die and leave her behind, or that she could be used as leverage against you, or that it might bring danger to us and our family, and we… we decided this mattered more."

His dark expression turning to a surprised one, Steve asked dumbly, "What?"

Jeremy had moved out of the way so Gabe could walk closer to Steve, as the anger had leeched out of his bones and was replaced by a simple protectiveness only slightly tinged with annoyance. As he looked down at Steve, his voice was still a little tight as he spoke. "Jeremy and I and my mom all had separate and group conversations with each other and with Evaline about this and still… we let you in, because our sister loves you. Because we love you, and we want you to be our brother, and our mother wants you to be her third son."

Steve still looked stunned to say the least, and Evaline herself felt similarly. She vaguely remembered Jeremy and Gabe cornering her at one of her niece's birthday parties and very seriously asking her about how she felt about Steve, their relationship, and their future together; she had thought it was just older brothers being protective as normal, but obviously it had been a bit more than that.

His voice quiet, Steve said, "I would… I would like that."

"Then why don't you make it happen?" Jeremy asked, his tone kinder than Gabe's but almost as demanding. "You're the only one standing in the way of it."

Sighing, Steve admitted, "I don't want to force it. Right now, the timing is not great, with things that are happening with Evaline… at work. She'd probably murder me if I tried to get down on one knee in front of her right now. Trust me when I say that I want to make your sister my wife, and I want to join the folds of your family; you both just have to trust me when I say now is not the time to spring all of that on her."

Her brothers both shared a look, as if debating whether or not they could trust Steve and his excuse. Finally, Gabe shook his head and said, "Whatever you say, man. But if you don't propose to her by the end of this year, I get full rights to bash your face in. Without you fighting back, Super Soldier."

Relaxing only a little bit, Steve flashed a tense smile at the brothers. "That's fair."

"Well, on that lovely note," Jeremy said, patting his thighs as he stood up from the couch, "I'm headed to bed, else Joanna will murder me if I groan in exhaustion when she goes to get up at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow morning."

"We probably all should get some rest," Steve said, standing up as well and looking very eager to exit the conversation.

Gabe rolled his eyes but smiled, placated for the moment as he patted Steve on the back and said, "You get out of our interrogation early this time, Cap. But don't always expect that to be the case."

When all the boys turned toward her, presumably to return to their respective rooms, Evaline realized belatedly she needed to escape back to her own room. Her heart racing, she sailed up the stairs and slammed back into the bed, pulling the covers tight over herself just as the door opened and Steve walked in, taking his position beside her slowly so as to not wake her.

Pretending to be half asleep, Evaline sighed and rolled over into Steve, feeling him freeze for a moment before he tentatively wrapped his arms around her. He only relaxed beside her in bed after he leant down to lay a kiss on her forehead and pulled away.

Only when Steve's breathing evened out did Evaline feel herself fall asleep as well.


	25. Chapter 25

For a few weeks, it was absolute bliss to be in the cabin.

They fell into somewhat of a regular routine, and it was easy for Evaline to visualize what a normal life Steve and she could actually have together, if their other identities simply ceased to exist. However, when Evaline was getting a little too comfortable in her more domestic role, she was given a stark reminder of her real life that awaited her out beyond the cabin and the woods - including, sometimes, by a Stark himself.

While she held her meetings with her teammates in the middle of the woods, Steve stayed back at the house to keep an eye on the family and make sure no one wandered out to see Tony, Vision, or Sam landing among the trees. When it was Steve's turn to meet up with them, they simply switched spots, Evaline usually keeping her family stationary by cooking up some elaborate meal that glued them to their seats at the dining room table.

The only time any S.H.I.E.L.D agents or team members actually came to the house was under the guise of delivery men and maintenance workers. They kept the same small group of agents rotating on protective detail around the house, and one of those agents included Marley, who always delivered their groceries to the house with a knowing glint in her eye, even when one of the other Kaesers was one of the ones who accepted the delivery from her. The glint only increased when Gabriel unabashedly flirted with her before Evaline finally separated the two of them.

Evaline should have known better than to get comfortable with her situation, and to fall into the lie that everything was fine and normal with her life. However, she was still taken completely unawares when the newest break in reality came during a relatively mundane moment.

She had taken back to running every night before dinner at dusk to clear her head, a part of her normal exercise routine before everything that had happened. The problem was, Steve refused to let her go alone, in what Evaline's brothers joked was just an overprotective boyfriend move, but Evaline knew was because he was worried she would be attacked. The next problem that arose is that Steve and Evaline couldn't run together, as Evaline would get too over-competitive with her genetically engineered super solider of a boyfriend, as proven one day when he had to carry her back with a tweaked hamstring.

So, they compromised and got Jeremy to agree to run with her instead.

They had been doing this for a few weeks now without incident, and although neither of the eldest two Kaeser children were overly talkative before the run, Evaline could sense that Jeremy was in a surly mood. She also knew that her older brother would need some easing into the conversation about his feelings, so she decided she would ask after the run what was on his mind.

In the mean time, she punched him lightly on the shoulder and said, "You coming?"

He gave a grunt and nod of assent before Evaline popped her earbuds in and took off through the door, sensing her brother just a few paces behind. Her eyes strained against the bright light of the sun setting on the horizon, blotting out the forest line for a few seconds until the sun finally fell behind the trees themselves. The music in Evaline's ears cut off for a second as she heard a voice say, " _Evening, Eva. Thought you could sneak out without telling me… again?"_

She struggled to fight back the smirk that crossed her face, although her eyes did flicker to the sky, where she saw a small glint of maroon and silver that she knew was Sam as he acted as their guard in the sky. Just as it was routine for her to go on her run, it was routine for her to try and shirk whatever Avenger had been assigned to her that day; usually, it was Rhodey or Sam, with Tony and Vision helping out when needed. She loved annoying them all to equal amounts.

As she lowered her gaze back down in front of her, she saw the forest envelop them and the open lawn around the cabin narrow to a single trail that still showed the silhouettes of their footsteps from the day prior. Evaline was beginning to steel herself for the uneven run when she felt, rather than heard, her brother stop moving behind her as she wheeled around quickly to see him staring at her.

"Jer?" Evaline asked, grinning. "Getting tired already, old man? Do we need to head back?"

The blank expression on her brother's face made Evaline lose her own jovial expression, feeling something turn in her stomach as she read his body language like she had been trained to do. His shoulders were tensed and turned inward, a sign that his muscles from his scapula to his fingers were all tensed, and his left foot was half a step behind the right, like he was preparing for a fight.

Slowly, Evaline stepped forward and asked, "Jer? What's going on?"

He took in a deep breath, not dissimilar to the one he took before starting in on a fatherly tirade when his kids misbehaved, before reaching into the pocket of his sweatpants and pulling out a piece of plastic. Shoving it at his sister, he asked accusingly, "Can you explain to me what the hell this is?"

Evaline's heart stopped in her chest as she recognized the piece of plastic as her S.H.I.E.L.D badge, where she was clearly dressed in tactical black and smirking at the camera. A million excuses flashed through her brain, but it short-circuited due the fact that it was her brother, not some adversary, who was questioning her. None of S.H.I.E.L.D's or Steve's training could have prepared her for that.

Sam's voice squawked over the comms, breaking her out of her own brain as he said, " _Eva, I can't see you, but I can tell you've stopped moving. Can you comm back something just so I know you're okay?"_

Ignoring Sam's request, Evaline took in a deep breath of her own before she gave her brother a carefully crafted and confused look as she shook her head. "It's just a visitor's pass, Jer. Can we focus on - ?"

She had reached out to take the badge from him and pocket it so they could resume their run, but he quickly pulled it away from her, shaking his head as new anger and disappointment sparked in his eyes. His voice was low, rough, as he asked, "How stupid do you think I am, Ev? I can read the badge, where it clearly says that you are an _agent_ of S.H.I.E.L.D. So, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Sam's voice sounded out over the comm again as he demanded now, " _Eva. Comm back now or I'm hitting the panic button."_

Watching her brother's unwavering expression and stance, Evaline ticked off a few breaths before she finally reached up to her nearly invisible comm, pressing the relay button as she said, "Sam, we're fine here. Stand down."

Her brother's face went to pure surprise for a quick second, before it molded into disappointment, which was so much worse. His voice shook just a bit as he asked, "Sam? Please don't tell me you mean Sam Wilson."

"Why?" Evaline asked, genuinely curious as a flash of panic sliced across her brother's face.

"Because that means that you're not just a part of S.H.I.E.L.D., you're a part of _the_ team," Jeremy said, his anger giving away to bewilderment. "How in the hell did that happen? No offense, but you're running into battle beside actual gods, men in iron suits, and super soldiers. How - ?"

Jeremy trailed off, as he saw something in Evaline's expression change when he said the words 'super soldiers', as she thought back to when she had been recruited specifically for the Avengers Initiative. Although she had worked closely with Natasha and Clint before, who both had already been chosen for the team, Evaline had not been originally chosen, due to what she claimed were too generalized of skills.

However, the more and more she interacted with Steve upon his return and leading up to the Battle of New York, they fell into a more natural rhythm than the Captain had with any of his other supposed teammates, and Evaline proved herself to everyone when Loki and an altered Clint had attempted to take over the Helicarrier. She, along with Maria Hill, had taken down every other of Loki's agents, and then had fought off Loki to protect Agent Coulson's corpse until the remainder of the team had finished with their respective tasks and rejoined to scare Loki into fleeing.

After the battle on the Helicarrier, and after Fury invoked Coulson's name as their new mascot in order to bring the team together, Evaline had stood stoically behind him, Coulson's blood still drenching her suit and skin. The Avengers were bruised, scarred, and burned, all of them staring at the bloody Captain America trading card that Fury had thrown into the middle of the table while Fury lectured them all, cheesily enough, about teamwork.

 _Stark, who had taken off his helmet but was still fully suited up, commented arrogantly, "None of us are used to working as a team. We're all either solo acts or mysterious entities that don't usually need back-up. How do you expect this to work?"_

 _While Fury had opened his mouth to answer, Steve was the one to say, "We need someone who knows how to be on a team, to bring us together. Someone like Coulson."_

 _Scoffing, Tony rolled his eyes. "And who do you suggest?"_

 _Steve's eyes lifted toward Evaline, and suddenly, all of their eyes were on her._

 _Just as suddenly, she was an Avenger._

Evaline's memory was cut short as she heard her brother growl, "I'm going to kill him."

The sudden turn in tone surprised Evaline. "Kill who? Jer?"

He didn't answer her question, instead turning on his heel and racing through the forest, back to the cabin. Surprised by his quickness, and stunned by the turn of the day's events, it took Evaline a few more moments herself to respond to her brother's actions, sprinting after him as she occasionally threw out a "Jer? Where are you?" to the forest ahead of her.

" _Eva?"_ Sam's voice came over on the comms again, all humor gone from his voice as he transformed from Sam into the Falcon. " _Eva, I'm following your brother, but what's going on? Do I need to come down there?"_

"No," Evaline insisted through heavy breaths as she ran after her brother, who had a good head start and many more years of soccer practice ahead of her. "I really don't want you to make a scene."

" _Okay. Just let me know if you need me."_

"Will do," Evaline responded as she finally broke through the tree line, seeing her brother already halfway across the expanse of lawn between the forest and the house.

She kept racing forward, but nearly stopped when she saw that Steve, no doubt alerted by Sam that Jeremy and Evaline were racing back toward the cabin, was waiting outside, jogging toward them with concern pooling in his blue eyes. When he reached Jeremy about fifty feet out from the porch, Steve opened his mouth, beginning to ask, "Are you both al - ?"

He never got to finish the question of their well being, as his mouth was too busy going sideways from Jeremy's fist crashing into his jaw. The momentum surprised even Steve, although both of the guys stumbled away from each other and Jeremy was the one left cussing in pain and nursing his injury.

Evaline swung between both of them, noting Sam was coming in for a short landing behind Jeremy's figure, as she shouted, "Stop it!"

The scream was enough to alert the rest of her family inside the house, Genevieve and Gabe quickly exiting out of the back door to the porch while Joanna presumably stayed inside and corralled the kids. The two additional members of the Kaeser family both stared at the scene in surprise, balking at Sam's presence in his full Falcon get-up, and the sight of Jeremy cussing as he waved what was probably his broken hand in the air as if that would help the pain.

"What is going on?" Genevieve roared, making it down from the porch as her youngest son quickly swung in front of her, as if he was afraid Steve would somehow retaliate against Jeremy's attack by doing something to their mother. Annoyed with the chauvinistic move, Genevieve quickly pushed around her son and used her maternal glare to pin down the other four culprits in front of her, asking her children, "Evaline? Jeremy?"

Completely ignoring his mother, Jeremy's wild glare was only focused on Steve as he spat between heavy breaths, "You… you sucked her into this world of danger, and then you had her lie to us about it! To think that we _ever_ trusted you enough to allow you into our family, and put all of us in danger as well!"

Evaline was unsure which broke her heart more: the look of disappointment and betrayal on her elder brother's face, or the look of sadness on Steve's at Jeremy's accusations. Instead, she focused on what she could do as she quickly stepped forward, her hand behind her to rest on Steve's chest but her body facing her older brother as she said, "Jer, it was my lie, my decision. If you want to yell at anyone, you can yell at me."

Deflating a little bit at his sister's words, Jeremy's face filled with further disappointment as some of the anger dissipated. However, his words were still sharp as he said, "I thought you were smarter than this, Eva. It was hard enough for me to accept your supposed 'work' in a third world country and the questions of your safety, but for you to be putting yourself so stupidly and recklessly in danger like this… Did you learn nothing from what we went through with Dad, when he went MIA?"

"Enough," Genevieve said, her voice even sharper than her eldest's as she stepped between him and her only daughter. The angry red in Jeremy's cheeks leeched out so he was paled instead, chastened by his mother's tone and expression as she asked, "Now, what are you going on about?"

Jeremy gave his sister an imploring and angry look, one she was sure he used on his children to fess up to whatever bad behavior they had participated in.

Sighing, Evaline turned to her mom and younger brother, eyeing both of them for a few seconds before she finally said, "I'm an Avenger."

Her younger brother's jaw swung open, and her mother just gave her a look full of confusion. Evaline, meanwhile, pressed on, her mouth running at a million miles a minute now that her secret was out as she explained, "While I'm not necessarily a superhero like Steve or Sam… er, Falcon, here, I was recruited to be an agent of their over-encompassing organization, S.H.I.E.L.D, in college. S.H.I.E.L.D stands for…"

"Honey," Genevieve said gently, cutting off her daughter as she shook her head and gave her a look of only further confusion. "This isn't news to me. You've already told me."

Evaline's heart stopped in her chest. "I… I what?"

"You already told me this," Genevieve repeated, as if that cleared things up, before shaking her own head to clear it. "You told me this back when you and Steve started getting really serious. You had this bruise of a handprint on your arm, and I was worried he was…"

Her eyes nervously, apologetically, darted over to Steve, who looked like he was going to vomit. Quickly, Genevieve tried to save the comment she had nearly made by saying, "Not that I thought he tried to hurt you, but he's a super soldier or whatever, so I thought maybe he had grabbed you too hard or…"

As Genevieve had floundered for a way to explain away her initial suspicions of Steve, Evaline's memory sparked. A few months after the events of the invasion of the Chitauri aliens in New York, Evaline had returned home to this cabin and her family for some well-deserved rest.

This time, however, she had brought her new boyfriend: Steve Rogers, who the whole world now knew as Captain America. Evaline was still sporting some scars and bruises from the invasion, but she had managed to hide most of them well enough due to the fact that it was November in New England. However, her mom had walked in one night on her changing and spotted a hand-shaped bruise around her upper arm from where Loki himself had snagged Evaline, his god-strength vise nearly shattering her humerus with a simple grab.

While Genevieve had haltingly asked if her boyfriend with the super-strength had harmed her, even accidentally, Evaline's mind had stuttered to a halt and glitched when she normally was able to weave lies with ease. The weariness from the battle had worn on her, as had the years of lies she had been forced to tell her family, and her exhaustion won out over the lies for once.

So, she had sat her mom down on her bed and told her the truth - from start to finish.

It wasn't until Evaline had shown her mother the same badge that Jeremy now held between his fingers that her mother seemed to come out of whatever daze she had fallen into after finding out her daughter was, essentially, a spy. She was eerily calm for such a revelation, Evaline remembered thinking, and that calmness was present now as Genevieve watched her daughter with nothing more complicated than maternal concern.

The additions to the story, all about her her accident and trip to an alternate reality, escaped from Evaline's mouth like a flood breaking the dam, as she uncontrollably stumbled over words and blubbered out subplots. Now, her mother's eyes widened in surprise at the tale she wove, especially when she neared the end and revealed that she was malleable just like the Winter Soldier.

Gabe, who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout this whole exchange, his head simply on a swivel as it aimed itself to whoever was talking, finally spoke up at this, concern leeching into his voice as he asked, "So, that means that you could be turned into some psycho killer with just a couple of words?"

"Gabe," his mom admonished, looking surprised at what Evaline had revealed but still having enough maternal instinct in her to chastise her youngest.

Pressing her lips together, Evaline shook her head and said honestly, "It depends on what the person using the words wanted to use me for. I could share state secrets, I could fight whoever they wanted me to, and… I could be a killer, yes."

Both of her brothers' and her mother's face paled with the realization and revelation. Warily, Evaline admitted, "We already know some of my trigger words due to a run-in we had in Wakanda. That's why we're here, now - because we don't know all the words, nor do we know how those people got the words they did, and we needed to get myself somewhere safe, where I could be neutralized and protected."

"But couldn't we unknowingly trigger you?" Gabe asked, concern drowning his expression.

"Technically, yes. We'll have to write down the words we know for you all so you can try to ignore using them. A few of them only cause headaches and dizziness, but more than four usually can cause my mind to fracture a little bit. That's when I become susceptible to suggestion or to… hallucinations, like I did in Wakanda,"

"That's the second time you've said that - Wakanda," Jeremy interrupted now, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What is that? Is that a place?"

Realizing she had made the first of what was sure to be her plenty of mistakes in revealing secretive matters to her family without any sort of clearance level, Evaline threw a look to Steve to help her out in explaining the highly technologically advanced country hidden in the African forest. Steve just shook his head, and Evaline said, "There are some things that I can't fully divulge to you, but it is a place. That's all you need to know. I'm sorry I can't tell you more."

Jeremy looked like he wanted to argue, but instead, he took in a deep breath and shook his head in disbelief as he said, "So much for being the older brother and knowing everything."

"You never knew everything. You just thought you did," Gabe cut back easily, earning smiles from his mom and sister at his brother's expense.

Lowering his gaze, and strangely somber, Jeremy said, "It's just… I'm just used to protecting the both of you: Eva from boys and bullies, and you from yourself and your own stupidity. I guess I feel like my role of being the big brother is now sort of obsolete, considering you're both soldiers on two different battlefields, and I'm… just a dad."

"Your role of being the big brother will never be obsolete, as you just showed by the temper tantrum you threw and the fact that you so stupidly punched Captain America in a misdirected attempt to protect my honor, or whatever," Evaline said, giving her bother a teasing grin as he groaned in embarrassment. She laughed easily in response, saying, "Hey, that was your decision, not mine."

Steve, who had been standing back and letting the Kaesers have their family moment, stepped forward now bashfully. His hands stuffed so far down into his pockets that Evaline could see his joints pressing against the fabric, he turned toward Jeremy and asked hesitantly, "So, are we okay?"

"Of course we're okay," Jeremy said with a sigh, shaking his head as he turned toward his sister's boyfriend. "I'm sorry I punched you and came after you like that, man. I just… I needed a target for my anger, and you were the easiest choice. But know that if you ever put her in harm's way, or don't stop her from doing something stupid, I will find out how to kill even you."

Evaline watched Steve's Adam's apple bob for a moment with a hard swallow before he promised Jeremy, "My life would have been forfeited before hers, I promise you."

"Okay," Evaline called, wrapping an arm around her boyfriend's biceps and squeezing tightly, "let's stop talking so darkly. We'll never get there."

"Well, we have to make sure of that, of course," Genevieve said, nodding her head as she developed some sort of plan in her own mind. "That means we'll have to meet the rest of your team, to make sure they understand the severity of what protecting you means."

Smiling gently, Evaline said, "I think they already understand that. It would blow your mind if you heard everything they've done for me to save and protect me."

"Well, I plan on hearing it," Genevieve said casually, adding, "over dinner tonight."

It took a few moments for Evaline's brain to process what her mother was suggesting, before she gawked at her and asked, "You - what?"

"Well, I think it's ridiculous we should be pretending we're not there when we know very well that they are," Genevieve huffed, waving at the sky, where she presumably believed either Tony or Vision to be watching them. "Can you invite them all down? Or over, or whatever? Since we just got groceries today, we should have plenty for everyone to enjoy a good, old-fashioned cookout."

As Evaline continued to be stunned by the calmness with which her mother suggested she invite the Avengers to a cookout, her thoughts were interrupted when Tony, in full Iron Man get-up, landed in the backyard. His mask retracted back into the helmet and he gave her and her mother both a look of questioning before explaining, "Wilson told me everything down here was kosher, but I wanted to check in myself. Also, I wanted to meet the lady who spawned you, Kaeser."

While Evaline had opened her mouth to call Tony off, and reject her mother's idea for a cross-family cookout considering her team had a job to do, Genevieve had other plans in mind as she quickly stepped forward and commanded Tony, "Call everyone in. I want to see all of you."

Tony's face slipped into shock, and he gave Evaline a quick glance of bewildered curiosity that she shrugged helplessly in response to. "You heard the lady, Tony. You might be our wanna-be leader in the field, but Mama Kaeser is the commander here."

He quickly regained his ego as he said, "I am not your _wanna-be_ leader. I am the leader. I am the original superhero and the first Avenger and…"

"Do you really want to have this argument again?" Evaline asked playfully, lifting one eyebrow as Tony scowled. "Steve's got you beat in a lot of those categories, Stark. Why don't you just focus on getting everybody here for some food?"

Tony looked like he was going to continue the argument, but he stopped in mid-thought as soon as Mrs. Kaeser gave him a look very similar to her daughter's. He sighed, then turned and walked away, grumbling something under his breath about 'that damn Rogers kid.'

Still grinning at Tony's annoyance, Evaline turned back to Steve as he gave her a vaguely concerned look. When she gave him a questioning one in turn, he asked gently, "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"No," Evaline admitted, as she spotted Natasha and Bucky exiting the edge of the woods and doing their best to hide their weapons in various folds of their uniforms. She turned back to Steve, giving him another hopeful smile as she said, "But I don't really have a choice, and I think this was due to happen anyway."

Steve pulled her in by her waist to fold against his body, before kissing the top of her head in a sign of support as Bucky called out across the field, "Seriously? Do you two ever stop with the PDA?"

"I'm mostly just impressed you know what PDA means," Steve cracked back with a smirk.

"She's to blame," Natasha commented, pointing behind them to where Wanda was flying in, gracefully landing with a smile as Vision came in behind her. "She was explaining the Korean drama show she was watching the other night, much to everyone's chagrin."

"He asked!" Wanda said, playfully annoyed. "It's not my fault that he got sucked into it, too!"

The interaction had all of them grinning, until Genevieve cleared her throat, reminding all of them why they were there. It was amazing to Evaline how the accompaniment of superheroes - who had faced Nazis, neo-Nazis, invading aliens and their supreme overlords, KGB agents, Middle Eastern terrorists, and actual, literal gods - looked like a group of chastised children while they stood in front of her mother's glare. The only one that seemed unbothered by it was, expectantly, Vision.

Natasha seemed in marvel regarding Genevieve's strength in the face of all the heroes, having had no prior example of maternal strength of her own to go off on; while Wanda, Tony, and Bucky seemed a little wistful to be faced with another strong maternal figure as they thought of the losses of their own. Sam, meanwhile, stood as ramrod straight as if he were at attention and in the presence of a higher-ranking officer.

Genevieve even paced in front of them a few times like a high-ranking officer eyeing her soldiers, before she turned to them fully and held all of their gazes firmly.

"I know, and I understand, from the way my husband spoke of his team, and the way that Steve speaks of you all, that you are a family. I assume this means you are a family to my daughter as well," Genevieve said, her gaze straying away from the assembled group of heroes for only a moment to glance at her daughter, who was looking a little fearful as Steve held her in his arms.

Turning back to the Avengers, Genevieve fixed them all with a motherly, commanding stare before she said, "That means you are family to us as well, and a family's first priority is to protect each other. I am trusting you all to protect my daughter, as well as my pseudo-son, in combat and everyday. You have done a great job so far, and I am entrusting you to continue to do so."

Sam's face was, for once, serious as he stepped forward and promised, "We will, ma'am, with everything we have."

Her heart swelling in appreciation for Sam and the rest of her team, Evaline interlocked her fingers with Steve's where they rested over her waist. He gave her a gentle squeeze as Genevieve fixed her gaze on each member of her team before nodding once, apparently pleased with the determination and commitment she saw on each of their expressions.

"Okay," Genevieve said, rubbing her hands together. "Well, I think it is only right to welcome you to this family all with a meal. What do you all think about a good, old-fashioned cookout so we can get to know each other better?"

Wanda, with her warm smile, stepped forward and said, "I think that would be lovely, ma'am."

"I'll take the lookout, since I don't need to participate in libations and food sustenance," Vision said with a quick nod before he shot up into the sky.

Gabe, his jaw hung open, side-stepped toward his brother, who was nearest to him, and asked quietly, "What does a guy like that subsist on, then?"

"I don't know, knowledge?" Jeremy asked, seeming as dumbfounded as his younger brother as Evaline grinned even wider at her brothers' reactions to what was, admittedly, one of the more mysterious of their teammates.

Genevieve, true to her nature, began doling out responsibilities among the group, regaling Natasha, Sam, and Tony to help her prep all the food, while sending Steve and Bucky to go break apart some firewood that Wanda would carry back with her telekinetic powers. Meanwhile, Gabe and Evaline were tasked for finding seating for everyone in the field, compiling together random chairs and large logs to use for the extra unplanned guests.

"Tony," Evaline said, calling back her friend before he could exit into the house behind her mother. He turned and gave her a curious look, a facade of light impatience nearly covering it for those who did not know him well enough to see through it.

Shaking her head, Evaline met his eyes as she asked, "Can you call in Marley, an agent, too? She delivered our food earlier, and I've had some run-ins with her at headquarters, so I kind of consider her a friend."

Tony allowed one corner of his mouth to turn up in a smirk, but he refrained from making fun of Evaline's sweet spot for a younger agent before he simply responded, "Consider it done."

As Evaline began to help Gabe grab all their miscellaneous chairs, she noted that Jeremy and Steve had stepped off to the side together before heading inside to go to talk to Henry and Daria, who were peeking out at Sam with wide eyes from the window. Even at their young ages, they knew who the Falcon was, and Evaline had no doubt in her mind that Jeremy was coming up with a game plan to prepare them to face with so many of the superheroes that had won infamy in the last few years.

With the extra help, it only took them about an hour to get everything set up. As they all settled in after the food was doled out, Evaline's heart filled as she eyed the scene of the campfire: Bucky, Natasha, and Gabe sharing war stories while clinging to their beers like lifelines; Marley grinning and sitting patiently as Wanda used her telepathy to model to Daria how to fishtail braid hair; Sam attempting to barbecue before playfully bickering with Genevieve about who was better at grilling; and Tony, helping hold Henry's hand steady while he tried on one of his photon beam gloves and Jeremy watched them warily. She knew, without looking, that Vision floated above them all as the guardian for the night while the rest of them relaxed, and she spotted a random S.H.I.E.L.D guard slip out of the forest, grab a plate from the pile next to Sam's grill, and return to his post.

She hadn't even quite registered who was missing from the scene until she heard the sound of light footsteps and felt his presence join her at the edge of the makeshift campsite. They both simply watched in amicable silence for a few moments before he reached over and slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his body before he laid a kiss at the top of her head.

Looking up at him, Evaline found herself smiling so hard that her cheeks hurt as she said, "Hi."

"Hi," Steve said as he smiled gently, his blue eyes catching the light from the campfire even from this far away. His eyes lifted back up to the scene in front of them for a moment before he said, "I bet you never thought you'd see us all together like this."

"No," Evaline admitted, allowing a small smile and shaking her head. "This - seeing my two families come together, and knowing that almost everyone now knows the truth… it's more than I ever hoped for."

Steve slid his other arm around her waist, both of his arms now circling around as he brought her body directly in front of his. "Then why do you still sound a little down?"

"I just worry about how long this will all last," Evaline admitted, feeling tears beginning to pool at the edge of her lower eyelid. "I know that's pessimistic thinking, but…"

"Pessimistic, but realistic," Steve agreed as he nodded, a little worry slipping into his voice before he swung around to face his girlfriend again. He used his thumb to wipe away a solitary tear that escaped before he told her gently, "However, you've got to focus on the now, on what's right in front of you. You've got to enjoy this moment while it lasts, because it might not happen again. Enjoy it for now, and enjoy it again later if it does happen again… or remember it happily if it doesn't."

Evaline used the palm of her hands to wipe away the remnants of the tears in her eyes as she admitted, "You're right, you're right. I need to enjoy this while it lasts."

"Then let's," Steve said, taking a step away from her and putting out a hand, his eyes flashing with emotion and the corners of his mouth turned just slightly upward, betraying his true joy better than any full smile would.

His optimism inspired Evaline to push all her negative thoughts aside, before she adopted a smile on her own face and took Steve's hand to move forward and join her two families - for however much time together they had left.


	26. Chapter 26

The next few days were a confusing time for Evaline as her personal and work lives smashed together like she had never expected them to before.

It was a rare night when there wasn't at least one other Avenger at their dinner table - most often Sam, who found a cooking competitor in Genevieve and loved sharing war stories with Jeremy and Gabe; or Natasha, who doted on Daria and Henry so much that at least one of them woke up every morning asking where Auntie Nat was. However, perhaps the biggest change in daily life was the inclusion of Marley in many of their activities, as she and Gabe continued to get closer despite Evaline's glare both of them received when they got a little too handsy. Still, it was nice to have another female around the house to balance out the gender ratio, and Marley fit into their family like a puzzle piece none of them had realized they'd been missing.

Just as she had a week prior, Evaline found herself lulled by the comfort and complacency of their situation. Although her team would report in everyday with what headway - if any - they had made on locating Luke, or identifying the Mystery Man, or figuring out what was going on with Evaline's brain, Evaline found that she was distancing herself from all of it once more as she continued to play house with Steve and her family.

So that was when, naturally, it all came crashing down over them.

It had been a long day, as Steve, Evaline, and Genevieve had spent a large portion of it helping Henry and Daria cultivate the garden that was just beginning to sprout some fall vegetables. Evaline found herself wondering several times why anybody gardened as a means to relax, but realized belatedly that perhaps it was because they usually did it without small children wielding the tools beside them and pretending like the weeds were invading aliens they had to attack.

When the two kids began to tucker out, they moved them inside for their naps as Evaline and her mom curled up with books to relax, and Steve exited the cabin to meet with Sam. The former Spec Ops soldier had taken up a role as a de facto leader in Steve's interim absence, handling a lot of the Avengers business alongside Tony and Natasha.

The kids woke before Steve had even come back inside, and Joana and Genevieve moved effortlessly in the kitchen to prepare them all dinner with the fresh vegetables they had picked during the day. Meanwhile, Evaline remained reading her book while Gabe played some game with the kids on the floor and Jeremy typed away furiously on his laptop.

When Steve came in, he did so without announcement, and he earned very little attention from anyone else in the house beside Evaline, whose eyes were instantly drawn to him as they always were. As she caught sight of him in his worn jeans, rolled up flannel, and work boots, Evaline felt a pang of bitterness, not for the first time, that this regular life would likely never be an option for her and Steve.

Stuck in her melancholy mind, Evaline hadn't even noticed that Steve had crossed the room to stand in front of her, giving her a playful smile. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Don't you know pennies aren't worth anything nowadays, old man? I'm going to need a more enticing offer," she responded teasingly, tilting her head up as he leaned down to kiss her, followed by a chorus of "ew's" and giggling from the floor behind him.

"God, you two are like a bunch of teenagers," Joana commented lovingly from the doorway standing between the kitchen and the living room. The door opened again, garnering all of their attention as Marley stepped through, sporting a few recyclable bags' worth of groceries as Gabe immediately leapt up to help her. Rolling her eyes, Joana commented with a smile, "God, it truly is becoming a hormone fest in here. Reminds me horribly of high school."

"Ah, yes, the glory days," Jeremy said brightly, jumping up from his table to give his own wife a peck, much to the chagrin of their children. "Oh, hush, you two."

Smirking at his older brother after greeting Marley with a kiss on the cheek, Gabe mockingly asked, "'Oh, hush?'"

"Auntie Marley!" Henry shouted gleefully from the floor, ignoring the exchanging of barbs between the adults around him. Instead, he gesticulated wildly to his toys in front of him, shouting, "Come look at my soldiers! They're like you, and Auntie Eva, and Uncle Steve!"

"Wow, it looks like you've got a real battlefield set up!" Marley exclaimed as she grinned down at Henry, squatting to get down to his level as she perused the play field in front of her. Feigning seriousness, she asked, "Can you tell me how many soldiers you have lined up here?"

While he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he counted the figurines Marley had helped him set up, his family watched with loving smiles until his expression cleared to make way for a joyous one, his bright voice calling out, "Nine!"

Almost instantly, a wave of nerve pain shot through Evaline's brain, lighting all of it on fire as she felt Steve grab her. She instantly went to go fight back, her own body betraying her as her hand reached out to chop at Steve's solar plexus, bringing the super soldier down to his knees with a nearly silent gasp of pain.

As one, Gabe and Jeremy slipped in front of her, both looking terrified at whatever expression they saw on Evaline's face. She watched in horror as her hand reached out to grab her younger brother, who her subconscious recognized as the larger threat and who her conscious screamed was not a threat at all, as she felt her mind fracturing at the warring thoughts.

The single moment of indecision was enough for Gabe to corral her, flanked by their older brother as he managed to push Evaline back into the kitchen. Distantly, she heard Henry ask worriedly, "Uncle Stevie?"

"Evaline," Gabe said, his voice low and his hands tight on her as he tried to meet her wild gaze. "Evaline, calm down, sis. You're safe, nobody here is a threat to you."

Despite the fact that Evaline's mind distantly agreed with him, her mouth formed the words, "You are."

She managed to slip one arm out of his grip and reach behind her to the counter, where a knife sharpener was laying on the counter. As her fingers circled around the hilt, she heard Jeremy shout, "Marley!"

Evaline's head whipped around to face the newest threat, the agent who stood in the doorway with a focused, cold gaze and a gun pointed at her. Just as she reached out to leap toward Marley and disarm her, noting the agent didn't even flinch as Evaline's muscles moved, she felt a force slam into her body, pinning her to the cabinets

Steve's voice nearly ruptured her ear as he shouted, "Now, Marley!"

Feeling the electric shock ride through her from the electrode bullet Marley had shot into her thigh, Evaline gave into the blackness that came quickly, only distantly hearing Henry's voice calling her name in distress.

—

When she woke, she noticed she was in the room she was sharing with Steve at the cabin, although she was the only one in the room. As she got up, she felt the aftereffects of the Stunner that Marley had used to deter her, and the memory of her raging caused every atom of food inside her body to come up in rebellion.

After emptying her stomach of all of its contents, Evaline stepped to the door to exit and brush her teeth, but she found that the doorknob wouldn't turn. As she jiggled it and inspected it, sure that it was merely broken as the result of a cabin that was older than she was, she noticed it seemed caught on something: the lock.

That's when she realized that they - that her team, her family - had locked her in, because she was a risk they couldn't trust.

Sure that an incessant amount of bile was about to make the same journey her meals from the last day had moments before, Evaline instead looked around the room for any way she could get out of what now felt like her prison cell.

Finally, her eyes zeroed in on the one potential exit: a smallish window facing out toward the lawn and forest. She quickly opened the glass pane, popping the screen out of its frame and resting it gently on the floor behind her, before stepping up to the ledge and looking out to measure how high the drop would be. Even without her S.H.I.E.L.D training, Evaline had snuck out this way in the summer of her fifteenth year, to meet up with a boy from town before Jeremy had used his telepathic older brother powers to find her and ruin the moment.

Sneaking one foot out to test the sturdiness of the ledge, which held underneath most of her weight, Evaline wasted no time at all throwing the rest of her weight out of the window. She quickly scaled the ledge, her fingernails digging into the shingles on the side of the house, before she made it to the large gutter and slid down it, getting a small plastic burn on the soles of her palms.

She streaked toward the forest, not really sure what her plan was, but knowing she needed to get out of the house and get some distance from what she had done and the consequences of her mental break. Stumbling almost drunkenly over roots and stones and twists on the path, Evaline felt none of the scratches or bruises her body suffered as her mind whirled incessantly in a cyclone of emotion.

Finally, her body brought her to a stop as her chest felt like it was going to implode if she took one step further. She even went so far as to put her hands on her knees and heave, spitting up only bile and trying to catch her breath without aspirating on whatever remained.

Her near heart attack almost resumed when a voice asked, "Where are you going?"

She turned quickly to find the source, unsurprised to find that her boyfriend had followed her through the forest. Despite the fact that she knew she had a long head start on him, his chest was barely moving with exertion although hers felt like it was going to burst.

Speaking between breaths, Evaline ignored his question and asked one of her own, saying, "How'd you know I got out?"

"Vision was flying overhead and alerted me that you were trying to escape," Steve said, stepping closer to her as she realized he was keeping his left foot always in front, a sure sign that he was on the defensive. Concern etched into every line of his face making him look a little bit closer to his real age, as he repeated, "Where are you going?"

"I don't know," Evaline admitted, shaking her head. "I just knew I needed to get out of there and distance myself from you all. I was so stupid to not think about how I could put them in danger by my own actions." She clutched at her still-roiling stomach as Steve watched with a look of anguish on his face. "I was so busy trying to protect them from the Mystery Man that I forgot what a threat to them I was."

When Steve tried to reach out to her, to presumably hold and console her, she scuttled backward like a startled deer as he paused, looking like he was going to be sick himself. His voice shook slightly as he said, "It's beyond your control, Evaline. Nobody blames you."

"I blame myself," Evaline shot back, shaking her head so hard that tendrils slipped out of her previously tightened braid. "After everything that happened in Wakanda, I should have had you all lock me up and - "

Steve's voice was hard, insistent, as he said, "We never would have."

"Then I should've done something to have not given you all the choice," Evaline spat back. "You saw what I almost did to Bucky before you all got there. Just because I may not be physically modified like he is, it's like the psychosis that takes over makes me slightly less human as well. All my senses heighten, all empathy drains away, and every lesson I've learned while I've been with S.H.I.E.L.D becomes my religion. Nothing else matters."

"Ev," Steve said slowly, as he started taking small steps toward her.

"And," Evaline continued on, undeterred, "you saw last night how I didn't even have anyone giving me directions. Just as soon as I was triggered, I turned into a killing machine. What the hell was that?! Even Bucky needed commands to be turned into a murderer, and yet I -"

"Ev," Steve said, more insistently this time as he reached out and grabbed Evaline by either arm, holding her still and forcing her to focus on him. He paused a moment, an array of emotions flashing over his face before he settled on determined and he said honestly, "I don't have the answer for you. None of us do, and I'm sorry about that. But what matters is you didn't hurt anyone, and we are going to figure this out. For now, rely on us - on me, on your team, on your family - to take care of you and protect both you and ourselves."

Steve's grip had loosened enough on her arm that both of Evaline's hands shot up to cover her mouth as she gasped, "Oh. Oh, my God. Henry. What does Henry think of me attacking all of you? I can't - "

"Jeremy and I explained it away as a training exercise for a mission we have coming up, and he bought it. Daria doesn't even know what happened since she was with your mom and Joana," Steve said, shaking his head at the excuse. "All he was, was worried about you when you didn't wake up for breakfast this morning. We told him you had gone on a run and were taking a nap, but I think that's when he sensed the lie."

Fondness for her nephew began to override the sickness Evaline had over the whole incident, as she imagined Henry questioning Jeremy and Steve about Evaline's whereabouts and doubting not the fake play from the day before, but the fact that she was taking a nap. Steve sensed that she had finally come down off of the ledge a bit as he gently asked, "Can we go back inside now? I'm sure everyone's wondering why I sprinted off in the middle of lunch without explanation."

Taking a deep breath, Evaline nodded as she took his hand and let him lead her out of the forest and back into the light.

When they exited out from the tree line, Steve moved his arm protectively around her waist when they saw that Jeremy, Gabe, and Genevieve were waiting for them out in the lawn. While they were still a good distance away, Gabe called out, "Everything okay?"

Evaline wanted to tell her brother the truth: that everything was very much not okay. She saw the fear and suspicion that Jeremy was trying to hide on his face, and she saw that Gabe had covertly stepped directly in front of Genevieve, seemingly acting as a barrier between her and Evaline if it was needed. She wasn't sure when she had lost the trust of her family, but she knew that it was one of the few things that wouldn't be able to handle.

Sensing her emotions as she took in the scene in front of her, Steve wrapped his arm tighter around her waist for more support as he called out, "Just needed some air."

The silence that enveloped the five of them was thickened with tension until Steve and Evaline came to a stop about four feet away from the welcoming committee. Realizing that all of her family members' eyes were heavily on her, Evaline decided to start the conversation she knew they needed to have as she said, "I am so sorry for last night. I don't think I have to tell you all that I was triggered by… by the word that Henry said. Admittedly, that response was a little stronger than what I've had before, and if I had known it would have been that severe, I would have never put you all in this situation."

"We love you, Ev, and we know you didn't mean it," Jeremy said, his gaze inadvertently going back to the house, no doubt to where Joana was watching them and making sure Evaline stayed far away from her kids. "We just… we just need to figure out what's going on with you before you're back around the kids."

Evaline felt Steve stiffen next to her, his temperature rising by a few degrees, as her mother said in admonishment, "Jeremy Philipe!"

"No, he's right," Evaline said, standing up for her brother, who looked relieved at her intervention. She stepped out of Steve's grip, practically feeling the pity and anger at Jeremy's wording radiating off of him, as she said, "I put you all at risk, at risk of being attacked not only by strangers, but also by me. I am so, so sorry. I think it's time that I leave, to protect you all and to truly spend all my energy on finding out what is wrong with me."

Jeremy blanched as he saw the guilt that flooded his younger sister's features, but it was Gabe who stepped forward and said, "Ev. We don't blame you. But we are worried about what we saw and I think… I think you need to focus all your energy on healing yourself right now, getting the answers you need and figuring out what to do next. Stop worrying about us."

She gave him a weak smile. "You say that like it's easy."

"It's not," Gabe admitted, "but it's the only way to say it."

Simply staring at her younger brother, Evaline asked in disbelief, "When did you get so smart?"

"Purposefully when you weren't watching so I could catch you off your guard with my sage advice," Gabe answered, supplying her with a shit-eating grin that seemed to right Evaline's skewed world for a few much-needed moments. The moment was quickly over, however, as he lost his smile and cleared his throat, turning his head for a second to look back at the house. "Henry's been asking non-stop about you. He thinks Marley hurt you somehow, even though he believed us about the training exercise bit."

Again, the nausea peaked in Evaline's stomach. "I'll go talk to him."

The five of them walked in uncomfortable silence back toward the house, and Evaline couldn't help but wonder at the fact that her mother, who normally had something to say about everything, obviously had no words to offer during this situation. None of it was made better by the scene they walked into when they made it inside: Joana barely able to wrangle her son and daughter from running toward Evaline, looking incredibly distressed in attempting to do so.

"Jo," Jeremy spoke up, his voice strained. "It's okay."

She gave him a quick look of disbelief, relaxing her muscles enough that Henry broke away and ran straight at Evaline's calves, screaming, "Auntie Eva!"

The weight of him nearly knocked her over, but her training helped her balance recalibrate to the small human now attached to her. As Henry began throwing question after question at her about where she had been and what she had been doing, Steve leaned over and whispered to her, "I'll go pack up our stuff."

Genevieve and Gabe disappeared with Steve up the stairs, presumably to go help Steve with packing up all their belongings, as Evaline squatted down to get down to Henry's level, motioning Daria over as well. Her niece looked up at her mother questioningly, who nodded once and let her go, before pulling her husband to the corner of the room and demanding answers in hushed tones that Evaline tried to ignore.

Henry, oblivious to his parent's fight in the corner, put his chubby hands on Evaline's cheeks as he frowned in an adult manner and asked, "Did Auntie Marley hurt you? I saw her hurt you, but you said you had no owies, but then you weren't at breakfast."

"So, you know how yesterday you saw me and Uncle Steve practicing some super cool moves?" Evaline asked, attempting to keep her voice light although she felt the tightness in her throat that was a sure sign of the tears building up in their ducts.

Daria and Henry nodded in unison. Their trusting and curious looks were the only thing that kept Evaline's front intact, the only thing that kept her strength from wavering, as she told them, "Well, Auntie Marley mistook me for hurting Uncle Steve, so she just stepped in to help. She didn't hurt me at all; everything's okay, and she proved we still have some work to do. In fact, we have to go on a super secret mission, so I'm going to leave you all and I might not see you for a while."

Frowning, Henry tilted his head as he asked, "Why not?"

"Because we need some extra time to catch the bad guy," Evaline said, her stomach a little sick at the fact that she was lying so easily to them, and that they were buying it so easily. "But we'll be back before you even realize we're gone."

Without missing a beat, Daria asked breathlessly, "With Auntie Nat and Uncle Sam and Auntie Marley and Auntie Wanda and Uncle Tony and - ?"

"Yes, with all your aunties and uncles and in tow, so they can spoil you," Evaline interrupted gently, with a patient smile. She took in a deep breath to stabilize her feelings, looking at her niece and nephew each fully and remembering their faces before she put out her arms and said, "Come give Auntie Eva a hug."

The two kids complied, nearly barreling into her as she wrapped both arms around them. She held them tightly to her own body, squeezing her eyes shut even tighter to keep the tears from falling, knowing the sight would only upset them.

Only when she was sure she had a control over the tears did she let them go out of her embrace. They heard loud footsteps from the stairway and looked up to see Genevieve leading Gabe and Steve down the stairs, both of the men hefting large suitcases as Evaline's stomach dropped and the tears threatened to spill. Henry, his voice emitting in a whine, asked, "You're leaving right now? But Uncle Steve told me he'd teach me how to throw his shield, and he hasn't yet!"

"They'll be back," Joana said tightly, smiling as nicely as she could to keep the kids in oblivion of how much danger they were in. Still, her eyes moved furtively toward Evaline, keeping stock of where she was in the room as she spoke every word slowly, fearful of triggering her once more. "Uncle Steve can teach it to you next time."

Henry was about five seconds away from full meltdown mode, but Steve quickly dropped his suitcase and swung in front of him, grabbing him by the shoulders and giving him a disarming smile as he said, "I'll be back before you know it, bud. I'll teach it to you next time. I have to go practice it on a bad guy, though."

The redness in Henry's face cleared before he nodded, although still pouting. Steve pulled him into a tight hug before pulling away and mussing up his hair, saying, "You take care of your sister now, alright?"

Huffing, Daria said, "I can take care of myself!"

"I know you can, ma'am," Steve said seriously, earning a giggle from Daria, who practically swooned every time he called her ma'am like she was fifty years older than him. He cracked a small smile before giving her a hug, too, saying, "We can do some shield swinging lessons when we come back, too."

Daria beamed, before Steve hoisted up his suitcase again and headed out the door, followed by Gabe carrying Evaline's suitcase. Evaline turned to face her sister-in-law, who tensed underneath her gaze, especially when Evaline moved toward her.

Hugging her as lightly as she could, Evaline whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry, Jo. I won't hurt any of you anymore."

When she pulled away, her sister-in-law had tears in her eyes but remained silent as Evaline turned and quickly ran after where her brothers, Steve, and mother had disappeared out the door - although the sight of them waiting for her at the car, waiting to say goodbye, almost broke her just as much as the scene with Joana had.

Her elder brother stepped forward first, embracing her as he slid his head underneath her chin. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, closing her eyes and feeling his solidity, as his chest rumbled when he said, "You've been through a trauma, Ev, and you need to heal on your own before you try to fix everything else around you."

"I know," she muffled into his shoulder before she pulled away. "I just thought that part of my healing might include you all."

"It will," Jeremy confirmed, nodding his head as if to convince himself as well, "but I think we tried too much all at once. You need to focus on fixing the cracks in your mind before you try to put more pressure on it with worrying about all of our nonsense."

"I wouldn't be your sister if I didn't worry about your nonsense," Evaline cut back petulantly.

"And I wouldn't be your big brother if I didn't insist you worry about yourself first," Jeremy responded easily, giving her a sad smile. "I love you, Ev."

She dug into her brother once more, fitting her head right underneath his chin and shutting her eyes for a few moments as she embraced him tightly, muffling into his chest, "I love you, too, Jer."

When she pulled away, Jeremy quickly turned and walked inside the house, presumably to join his family and help corral the kids in case they decided to make an escape back into the yard. Next, Evaline turned her attention to her younger brother, who gave her a more confident smile than the one Jeremy had departed with.

Meeting his eyes, Evaline asked, "You'll protect them?"

"You know I will," Gabe said, nodding once before reaching out and hugging his not-so-much bigger sister. "They're in good hands, sis. Now, focus on yourself."

"I love you," she muffled into this brother's chest as well.

Still wearing his comfortable smile and holding all the strength of their family for their day, Gabe promised, "I love you, too."

Lastly, Evaline turned to embrace her mom, Genevieve folding her only daughter into her arms. Evaline swore she could hear the sound of her mother's heart breaking, and she felt the droplets trickling down her cheeks now as both of their tears mixed on her skin.

Her mother's voice rumbled through her chest as she said, "Maybe someday, we'll stop saying these goodbyes."

"Maybe," Evaline said, pulling away as she looked up the inch only difference between her mother and herself. She saw so little of herself in her mother, but so much of Gabe and Jeremy in her mother's face that it was like saying goodbye to them all over again as she felt new tears springing down her face.

"Well, we'll see you when you're better," Genevieve promised, wiping away her daughter's tears like she had when she was five and she busted her knees on the pavement after falling off her bike. Her eyes roved across Evaline's face, in that loving and measuring way that only a mother's cold, before she stroked both cheeks with her hands and said, "I love you, and I am so proud of the woman you have become."

Evaline knew if she hugged her mother once more that she would never leave the embrace, so instead she just squeezed her hands and gave her a watery smile, telling her, "I love you, too. I'll see you soon."

She glanced at her brothers and mother one more time before turning abruptly, feeling like the dam inside her chest was going to break if she looked at them for one more moment. With every step she took toward the car and toward Steve, she replaced one brick in that wall, and by the time she made it to where her boyfriend was waiting, the tears had stopped flowing at least.

Steve tried to reach out for her, but she pulled away from him, knowing his touch would unravel her as well. She instead turned to get into the car as she slammed the door, then he kept her eyes resolutely away from the cabin. Steve started up the car and began the drive back to the Tower, his eyes flickering over to her every once in a while but mostly staying on the road for the several hours long drive.

They spent the entire ride home in silence.


End file.
